


Welcome to the Blitzkrieg Family, suckers!

by VereorInHell



Series: Welcome To The Blitzkrieg Family [4]
Category: Beyblade
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst but not too much, Bryan has a crisis, Dark Past, Everyone wants Tala, Family, Fluff and Angst, Gay Sex, Long Lost Family, M/M, Mention of gay prides in the US, Oral Sex, Overprotective Spencer, Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Rough Sex, Sassy Ian, Sassy babygirl, Sex, Slutty Bryan, Slutty Tala, Smut, Tala cross-dressing, Tala is more than you think, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, The boys share, The boys' past, long lost brother, new characters - Freeform, royalties
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-01-12 18:10:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18451895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VereorInHell/pseuds/VereorInHell
Summary: It's 2010, BEGA is way over, and life smiles for the four former poster boys of Balkov Abbey, AKA the Demolition Boys. The Blitzkrieg Family is happy and thriving, even if the Boys have almost given up on blading. However, when Mr. Dickinson sends over an invitation for a reunion to all the bladers who took part to BEGA, the Demolition Boys have to figure out what to do with their new, enlarged family..ON HIATUS





	1. Years Gone

**Author's Note:**

> Multichapter story. Takes over from after NWIHI.  
> Blitzkrieg Family (kind of) AU: you should probably read the other stories of the series to know who the new characters are.  
> Point of view will shift a lot between characters, also within same chapter.
> 
>  
> 
> BEAR WITH ME: First chapter is basically just a chronological summary of what you should catch up on. So yeah, it probably will be very boring, but, hang on ok? Thanks!

**Chapter 1: Years Gone**

The former Demolition Boys haven’t been active on the bey blading scene for quite a few years by now. It’s 2010, they haven’t taken part to a single blading competition since BEGA, in 2006. For Ian, this means that the last time he has officially bladed in a championship was 2004, and hasn’t touched Wyborg since 2005.

BEGA went down in summer 2006. In the November of the same year the Demolition Boys have taken Boris Balkov and the entire Neoborg association to court, starting an incredibly long series of trials. They won at last, but the process wasn’t all smooth and promising for the four former poster boys of Balkov Abbey. Despite their depositions, Mr. Dickinson’s support and the depositions of many members of the BEGA team, Balkov’s lawyers team made it clear that they had been sent from hell by the devil himself, to protect the interest of the devil’s protégé, AKA Boris.

The Demolition Boys were starting to fear the worst, when an angel clearly sent by the gods (Or Spencer’s goddess) came to their rescue. One day, while he was grading some tests he had the kids to make, Tala was rung by none other than Nikolaj Vassivilovic.

Mr. Vassivilovic was a very famous and respected lawyer, who had already made himself a name for fighting against exploitations and Russian criminal organizations. He told Tala that, as soon as he had learned the boys were in trouble and needed a better lawyer, he had realized that this was his sign to step in. He didn’t sound arrogant or bold, he just offered himself, confident that he was the best around. He told Tala that he felt responsible, as a man, a lawyer but most of all as a human being, to help the Demolition Boys and the kids. He didn’t even want to be paid, and proceeded to win trial after trial in defense of the Blitzkrieg family.

The boys won the case, and were granted with a conspicuous economic compensation. They were also given the right to ask for future guardianship on the few remaining boys that were still in the Abbey, who had no family to go back to, or did not want to reunite with families who had sold them to Boris years before. In January 2007, with the compensation from the trials and Kai’s economic contribution, the Demolition Boys built a place for their new family, the Blitzkrieg family.

Back then, because technically only Spencer and Bryan were of age, legal representation and guardianship had formally been bestowed upon Mr. Dickinson. Actually, Tala was in charge of everything, and he acted as a leader of twenty people group just like before he had been leading a four people team. He managed and succeeded, and, as soon as he reached eighteen, he legally and officially became the headmaster of their school.

The four Demolition Boys divided guardianship of the kids between themselves, Tala taking less kids as his charges because of the things his position demanded he tended to. Ian picked up his job as a DJ, dedicating himself to music, Bryan worked as a mechanic and picked up dirtbikes racing; Spencer applied and won a scholarship for a PhD position in history and took on a part time job in a museum. Tala, as per suggestion from Mr. Vassivilovic, went into law school, working on a thesis connected to children exploitation, mafia associations in Russia and working as an intern for Mr. Vassivilovic himself. 

They also divided school subjects between each other, since, as they structured the Blitzkrieg family as an institution in between family and school, they had to home school the kids. 

The Demolition Boys didn’t intentionally give up on blading. Bryan and Spencer still bladed, from time to time. Ian liked to pet Wyborg, feeling it almost purr in his hands, but almost never launched it anymore. Now that they were free to find out more about themselves, they found out that they weren’t so much into the sport, partly because it had been drilled so brutally into them.

Most of the kids had never liked it at all, and it did bot contribute to creating occasions for picking up battles. In the end, the four Demolition Boys still had their bit beasts, but they almost forgot about them. As much as you could forget a connection with a supernatural creature tied up to your soul, obviously: From time to time they had to interact with their sacred beasts, or the spirits would turn mad and hurt their owners. Fortunately for the Blitzkrieg family, not even the four sacred beasts were so interested in battling, after all the tampering they had sustained at Balkov Abbey.

Mikail went back to dance, helped by Tala. Which, for the former captain, was an indirect way to go back to dance himself, but without admitting he was doing so. They would dance and practice together, but in the end the only one performing in front of a crowd and pursuing a career out of it was Mikail.

In 2009 Ivan and Piter, being the eldest of the Blitzkrieg kids, were sent to a public school and Mik to a professional dancing school. That year they turned seventeen, and the Demolition Boys decided that two years of homeschool had been enough for them, as time to recover from the Abbey. One year later, when they entered senior year, the Demolition Boys sent to the same public school also some of the younger boys. Babygirl was enrolled into a different school, a private one, because she already knew what career she intended to pursue; even if it forced her to wear a horrible gym uniform, that school would prepare her better and help her achieve her goals. Also, in this way she managed to keep her family from knowing her real name (with the only exception of Bryan. Not even her blood brother, Maxim, remembered it!), which counted as a big plus for her.

Maxim and the youngest kids were enrolled only one year later.

This progressively gave Spencer more and more time to finish and defend his PhD thesis, allowed Tala to focus more on his cases, and gave Bryan an infinite amount of precious free time, that he could dedicate to engines and races. Ian started collaborating with minor artists, quickly going up the stairs of musical heaven, until Ming Ming asked him for a song.

The idol specifically requested a feat with music from Viper, but she wanted also to duet with his main singer, because ‘his voice is to die for’, as she put it. 

This forced Ian and Bryan to come out to each other: Ian’s vocals had always come from Bryan, and the latter had always pretended not noticing that Ian was recording him singing. Of course, since before releasing a song Ian would play it especially in the house, there was no way that Bryan could have really been in the dark about the way his voice was being used, Still, he had chosen to pretend ignorance, or just ignored the matter. Ming Ming’s request, though, forced Ian and Bryan to admit what they were actually doing: they started working consciously together, which saved a lot of time and even worked on improved quality of the songs.

Sending kids to school took some pressure off the Demolition Boys’ shoulders, especially from their captain’s. However, early 2010 was also when the Blitzkrieg family almost lost Tala. 

All the four Demolition Boys had undergone useless surgeries, brain tampering, and had been exposed to a very unhealthy dose of very unhealthy substances, many of which extremely dangerous and even lethal for the human body. Some of them had been injected directly in their system. Boris had focused particularly on Tala when it came to brain modification and DNA enhancement, and that, combined with the injuries the redhead has sustained during BEGA, had taken its toll on Tala’s body. After the coma, the doctors had recommended that he avoided stress, and that he paid extreme attention to anything that could tire him. They explained to the four Demolition Boys that either the captain took it easy and rested, or he would run an incredibly high risk, for someone of his age, of slipping back into a coma, or sustaining brain damage, or even a heart attack.

The Boys had tried taking care of Tala, realizing that his attitude to all those recommendations was to shrug his shoulders and go on his normal, very stressed and tiring way. It hadn’t been easy: the redhead, while having taken to increase his patience, still lashed out when he felt he was being fussed over. They had fought, Tala insisting he was fine, even if he was actually feeling worse and worse, more and more tired, with the time passing.

It escalated to an episode that shook the entire Blitzkrieg family.

One day, Tala and Mikail had been practicing in the gym, alone, working on some drill for Mik. Right out of the blue, Tala fainted, falling on the floor and not smashing his skull only because Mik dove and managed to put himself between the redhead and the hard wooden floor. Ian had been passing by, wanting to suggest a song for the rehearsal, and had immediately called, in this order, Bryan, an ambulance, and their doctor.

Tala slipped back into a coma: the doctors managed to save him at last, after fighting for forty-eight long hours against Tala’s tired body, that was way too ready to just switch off forever. The medical team, the Blitzkrieg family, Mr. Dickinson and even Mr. Vassivilovic gave Tala the scolding of his life, for putting his life to such a risk.

The redhead was put to extreme bed rest, allowing him only the basic movements that he needed not to go crazy. He was not allowed to work on his cases, as per decision of his boss, and prevented from physically help Mikail rehearse. He could do so from a chair, and only at the condition that he took a nap right after. He was imposed a severe cat-naps regimen, with the kids dragging him to the sofa at the scheduled time and snuggling close to him, so that he could not but stay and rest, if not sleep. Spencer made also sure that Tala emptied his dish at every single meal.

Obviously, at some point Tala went mad, and demanded things went back to normal. He had to promise he’d follow a less hectic rhythm, and apologized again for scaring them all, every single one of them. He maintained the promise, still remembering their shook faces when he had woken up.

Now, deep into 2010, Bryan still races, Tala has gone back to work, Ian still makes music, and Spencer is working on his PhD and aims for a position as permanent researcher at Moscow University. Some kids go to school, other they still teach to, and they still check that all of them have done their homework and washed their hands and brushed their teeth. Tala still goes shopping with Babygirl and Valeryia, and still tries not to cry when Mik performs and calls him on the stage, when the host of the  soirée hand him flowers or prizes.

This is the way things are going, when they receive the invitation from Mr. Dickinson.

 


	2. They Want To Bring Us Along

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Babygirl AKA Malyshka is the only girl in a house where she lives with other NINETEEN young males, spanning from kids to teenagers to young adults. Some of them are famous, some aren't, some are going to be. She's minding her own business, waiting for one of her foster daddies to pick her up, when (some of) her siblings show up with an amazing news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is centered on the only girl in the Blitzkrieg Family, but it will show more sides of our favorite Russian Bladers.

**Chapter 2: They Want to Bring Us Along**

Malyshka is a normal, gorgeous, rich and incredibly smart teenager. She’s sixteen, wears stylish clothes, studies in a very prestigious, international private school, aces her classes and is growing into the body of a model.

Ok, maybe she isn’t exactly the definition of a normal girl, but she was when she started. Or maybe not.

Her name is Vassilikka, and, as many other teenage girls, she has been hating her name all her life. She is grateful that her parents have loved her enough to, despite naming her with one of the names she likes the least, never call her that. She has been Malyshka all her life.

She, too, as many other unfortunate souls on this world, has her own sad story to tell. She grew up in a loving family, with loving parents and Maxim, her brother, only one year younger than her. So little time had separated them, that they had spent their childhood like twins, doing everything together. They were very different: she was bold and extrovert, he was shy and didn’t like crowds. 

When Maxim was only five, he was kidnapped from their shared bedroom and brought to Balkov Abbey. Their parents looked for him and turned to the police, but Maxim could not be found. They both died in a mysterious car accident, one year after Maxim had disappeared, right outside Balkov Abbey.

After that, Malyshka had gone through a never ending series of foster families, enough that she could be a reliable first witness of how families should not apply to foster children when the only thing they aim for is the money they will receive to do so. Not all of them had been bad, and in many of them she had siblings, but, although she made some friends, she never bonded with any.

She ran away from the most violent and tried to bear with the most boring and/or conservative ones, or even with the abusive ones where she wasn’t the only kid, and where her foster siblings needed help or protection.

In January 2007 (she will never forget the date, it’s engraved in her brain like Christmas used to be) someone knocked on the door. Her current foster mother, messy and not particularly caring but at least not abusive, had been pregnant with her fifth kid, so she told Malyshka to go open the door.

That was the first time she saw Bryan Kuznetov of the Demolition Boys.

He was standing at the door, with a tiny smile that warmed her and made her think about love and family like she hadn’t thought since the disappearing of her brother. He was also the most beautiful man she had ever seen: he was tall, had broad shoulders, incredibly penetrating green eyes, and he just looked like a model.

He knelt to be at her eye level, and asked her name.

She answered, as always, Malyshka. Then she added, she used to be Vassilikka.

He told her Maxim was with him. He told him he was himself a former Balkov Abbey boy (Malyshka knew: he was famous, for heaven’s sake), and he and his team members were building a family with kids from the Abbey who didn’t have a family anymore. He asked if she wanted to join them.

She accepted right away.

The first meeting with her brother was weird. Maxim had changed, become even more introvert, but he recognized her immediately. She, on the other hand, needed a few seconds to realize that the twelve years old boy in front of her was, yes, her previously very tiny brother.

The initial awkwardness disappeared within the first hours. A bit different was for her to adapt to the idea of living with nineteen boys, of different ages, and some of them absolutely stunning. The first time she saw Tala (in real life, not in television in a match) she might have gaped at him. Mikail was also unbelievably cute, obviously gay, and very brotherly with her right from the start.

It became easy to feel for the other boys the same brotherly bond she had with Maxim. She only distinguished between younger brothers, older brothers, and the Boys, who were in between brothers and parents, since they were clearly the figures in charge.

Bryan has been a father-older brother figure since the day she met him. She made him promise not to tell anybody her real name, and he just grinned but went along with it.

Now she’s been Babygirl or Malyshka for years. Only this year, going back to the real world, she had to go back also to her real name. She has taken Bryan’s surname, since after all he is her and Maxim’s legal guardian, and always introduces herself with his surname. You should see how this scares annoying boys away. She’s hot and fit, so it’s normal that boys approach her.

Not that any of them manages to get frisky with her: Bryan has been teaching her how to defend herself since the day she moved in. She also found out she loves sports, especially since it’s a way to spend time with him.

She’s hot and she knows it, which is probably something that not all teenage girls can say. Then again, she has something that no other teenage girl has: an incredibly huge amount of brothers, and Tala.

When she’s met the redhead she was almost thirteen; she was already in that age when you can definitely feel physical attraction, but you can also realize when the same attraction binds together other people. She knew that Bryan and Tala were going to be a thing even before they did. She learned to think of Tala in the least sexual way that it was possible, and made of him a sort of older brother, almost sister figure.

The Demolition Boys gave her the best education she had received in years, which was a surprise, given their past, and yet they did. Ian honed her potentials by tricking her day after day with logic quizzes, Bryan trained her body, Spencer taught her grammar. Tala taught her languages, but he did also so much more: he taught her to feel confident in her own skin, to feel great in her own body, and to cherish the changes said body was undergoing. He taught her manners, how to speak in public, how to be a lady, but also allowed her to be as stupid as any teenager could be.

In particular, while Bryan insisted to see her always as a kid daughter, Tala recognized she was growing year by year. They went shopping together, and he actually helped her buying her first bra. She went to him the day she realized she had had her first period, and all the times she was in pain or nervous or just tired, he had a suggestion that worked to make her feel better.

She would never give up on their shopping afternoon for anything in the world: his suggestions were pure gold. He had good taste and eye, and could put together outfits when she hasn’t learned how to yet.

She loves the Demolition Boys just like she loves her fifteen brothers, even if only one of them is technically a blood relation to her.

Bryan is like a very young, very sexy and very off-limits father figure, Tala is a brother-slash-sister, Ian pushes her to go over her comfort zone in terms of knowledge, and Spencer engages with her long discussion about politics or society (which she does not dare raise with Tala, his opinions are a tad too extreme and anarchist for her taste).

She misses their teaching: language teachers here are native speakers, but Tala speaks eight languages just as well, just as fluently, and can switch from one to another with no issue. Math and sciences teachers are great, but they couldn’t hold a candle to Ian and Bryan, and Spencer’s analysis in literature are still unbeaten.

Still, this school is famous, has connection, and will help her with her future path that she intends to take. There is also another positive side to attending this place: the majority of the students are females. God knows if Malyshka needs to learn how to interact with women, even if she still very much prefers to deal with men. Women are so… complicated. She might acknowledge she herself is, but, oh boy, some are real nightmares.

Between the fame of the Demolition Boys she lives with, her looks and her clothes, the fact that she is smart and almost always scores the highest grade, and even the fact that she isn’t particularly patient and doesn’t want to put up with the nagging of many of her female school fellows, she hasn’t made many friends.

The boys who, even after she reminded them her surname, still have tried to impress her have all ended up with a broken nose, or limped home. To many girls who have tried to bully her she hasn’t spared the same treatment. However, she has managed to make friends, or, better, acquaintances that she has allowed to address her with her real name (a shortened version of it, clearly, because Vassilikka is a mouthful, so she’s Ikka or Vikka or Bikka for them), and mainly because neither Natasha nor Anna will ever be in proximity with her many brothers (so her secret is still safe).

She’s waiting outside the gate of the school. She’s wearing one of her usual attire: knee high boots with stiletto heels, dark jeans, her mid-thigh coat. Her hair has been braided by Bryan himself, who, you would never guess, can braid a mean French braid.

She is waiting for her usual ride, either Tala or Bryan, the former with the Lambo or the latter on his bike. She is definitely not expecting Mik, Ivan and Pieter, showing up with the shiny black Escalade SUV the Boys have reserved to drive all the kids around.

Mik rolls down the window from the passenger seat in the front and gestures at her to get in. She does with a frown, and straps in.

"Why are you guys here? Is everything ok at home?" she asks.

"The Boys have received an official invitation from Mr. Dickinson" Piter says, driving.

"What invitation?" Babygirl asks, frowning again.

The ‘Boys’ usually refers to the former Demolition Boys, but she still can’t understand what her brother is saying.

"A Beyblade reunion" Ivanexplains "Tala is still talking to him about some technical stuff"

"Like what?"

"I think they’re worried about us" Mikail explains, turning from the front seat: "Technically, the reunion is only for actual or former members of the teams who have participated to BEGA and past championships. So they’re in…"

"And?"

"And, we guess they don’t know what to do with us. Can you picture them leaving us behind? They have already started fretting and fussing" he shakes his head with a fond smile.

Ivan smirks, across from her: "We think they want to bring us along" he explains grinning like mad.

'Five stars hotels, famous sport stars, no school…' she thinks, considering and weighting.

"Awesome!" she exclaims.

She’s met with three expressions identical to hers.

 


	3. I was... not expecting that

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Demolition Boys have to figure out what to do with the reunion. Mr. Dickinson has news he has forgotten to tell the boys. Bryan's past comes back to hunt him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for: nothing. But: mention of Bryan's past, introduction of an OC  
> Some angst, Mr. Dickinson being suuuuper sweet.

Chapter 3: I was... not expecting that

“This is impossible!”

Tala’s frustrated exclamation irritates Ian even more than what he thought it was hi limit. He fights to keep down his own dissatisfaction with their current plan, and, along with that, their current predicament.

They have only this chance to make it work, and Ian agrees, it’s not easy to find a solution.

They have received Mr. Dickinson’s invitation to a Beyblade reunion event, something along the line of, hey, our favorite sport has kind of died, it’s no longer in the top three of the most played sports, and in some countries has even been banned, forbidden on the ground of its allegedly destructive nature, but, let’s remind each other how much fun we had blading, and, incidentally, almost destroying the world alongside!

Mr. Dickinson has planned a two weeks event around the world that will bring the bladers in their different countries pf origin, according to who will participate. So far, literally everyone has confirmed they will participate: only the Demolition Boys are hesitating. Tala hasn’t said it explicitly, but everyone knows he doesn’t like being caught hesitating.

Not being able to take a fast decision is like admitting something private to the other teams. It’s like letting them in into their own, private lives. It’s highly likely lead the other team to think that they’re not strong enough, not tight enough, not organized enough. It will make the others think that the Demolition Boys are no longer a team, or not an efficient one.

Ian understands, but he also doesn’t give a damn, because, come on: it’s true they’re far from the only ones who have grown a family since BEGA, but none of the other team has to struggle organizing stuff with a family so big as theirs. Or that could be in as much danger.

They all want to go, the four of them, not only because they might, after all, be curious to see how are the others and what are they doing, or to show off what they themselves have become. It’s also a chance to let their bit beasts out, the sacred spirits that used to be a constant presence in their brains. They haven’t battled, trained or even touched their blades for a long time, and they’re all kind of waiting for a chance to recover the feeling of being once again at one with their spirits.

Knowing that such a chance is so close is affecting them in different ways. Spencer, who’s had Walborg for the past fourteen years, is the most calm about it. Ian doesn’t know what’s the relationship he has with his bit beast, but sometimes it looks like the one between a very benevolent, protective god and its worshipper.

Ian feels restless and uneasy, like he kind of can’t wait to pick Wyborg up again. It’s exactly as if he was on his way to visit a friend he hasn’t seen for a long time.

Tala is even more restless than Ian, and looks even more than usual, probably a close second only to the days immediately after the brain upgrade in the Abbey. With his overthinking, hyper-analyzing nature, his little patience and the pressure of a very primal and, if possible, even less patient sacred beast in his mind, the guy is, and looks like he’s one step far from having a nervous breakdown.

Which, given his still recovering physical conditions, is definitely not good for his health.

Despite all that is going on in his head, Tala tries to reign his impatience in, and visibly walks on eggshells, trying to keep his cool.

Bryan, on the other hand, couldn’t probably even try to hide the way he’s feeling. He’s clearly torn, and he hasn’t looked this close this Abbey self in such a long time, everybody had almost forgotten he used to be like this. His relaxed and smug smile has disappeared, replaced by this cold, almost calculating look, as if he’s just one step from being triggered into killer mode.

The kids don’t like this old version of him, some of them had forgotten or not even ever witnessed it, and it’s almost scaring them.He tries to control himself, to shield them, but they can all sense his new friendlier self is trapped under this new exterior.

Literally anyone who knows Bryan can understand why he is reacting this bad: he is afraid. He’s scared shitless of seeing, feeling, hearing Falborg again. Their relationship was far from nice, or so it has always looked from the outside, with Falborg feeding on Bryan’s anger.

At the same time, he looks like he is looking forward for this chance, maybe to meet the old spirit under these new terms, and maybe to prove him, or himself, how much he has changed.

Possibly, he’s just dying to show his sacred beast how much he has changed.

Ian himself can’t wait to prove to Wyborg how better a man he has become.

The thing is: they all really look forward for this reunion. But there is a small, giant problem: they have sixteen kids they have to take into consideration.

The three eldest boys are already eighteen, and they are in their senior year at school. This is actually the first years the Blitzkrieg family is sending more kids into public or private schools, than the kids who are still homeschooled by the former Demolition Boys. Eleven out of sixteen kids are enrolled and attending three different institutions: Malyshka goes to her fancy private school, Mikail to a famous dancing school, and the others attend a public but well-known school. Everyone but Maxim and the youngest kids is going to school: Ivan and Piter, Mikail, Ivan II, Sergej, Dmitrij, Lukas, Malyshka and the two Yurijs. All of them leave the watchful eyes and loving, if slightly oppressive and suffocating, protection of the Demolition Boys for six – eight (Mikail often ten) hours.

Still, the Demolition Boys would rather lose a limb than leave one of them alone for twenty-four hours. They would rather miss this reunion than leave sixteen kids unattended, with Boris in jail but still able to pursue evil intentions even from there.

See? This is a problem.

It’s the first time that it looks like their charges are a hindrance, and it’s really difficult not to make them think that they are. You don’t want to make eleven teenagers think that they’re burdening you: that’s the receipt for a disaster. Especially if you consider how fucked up in their heads they are, and how lucky they’ve had it, with none of them undertaking the path of self-harm.

Tala has started pacing through the kitchen at least fifteen minutes ago, and he hasn’t stopped yet, and even Spencer now looks like he’s barely containing himself from grabbing his captain and slamming sat on the bench. And possibly feeding him some food.

If Spencer looks that annoyed, Ian is sure his own annoyance is well shown on his own face.

“Tala, I swear” Bryan mutters through clenched teeth, his body a string of tension.

He’s leaning against the wall with crossed arms, and looks this close to tackling Tala.

The captain shakes his hand in the air with an annoyed glare.

“Spare me the ‘you need to rest’ speech. We have to find a solution, now. The deadline for confirming is in a few hours”

“Wow, thank you for remembering us. It’s not like you’ve repeated it for the past five days” Spencer comments with aloof sarcasm.

Tala leans against the big window, looking outside. His three charges, their youngest kids, are playing catch under the watchful eyes of Ivan and Piter. It’s an endearing scene, but it also reminds them that they have to choose between family and… well, sanity, since they will probably lose their mind, if they don’t allow their sacred beasts this chance to break free.

“Would you please sit down while we try to find a solution?” Spencer asks, in a very calm voice that doesn’t hide the fact that, either Tala obeys, or Spencer will tackle him and slam him on a bench.

Tala gives him an annoyed glare but realizes it’s better if he complies, so he huffs and does as he’s been asked.

Spencer and Bryan still stand, mirroring each other, one against the wall, the other propped against the countertop. Ian sits, facing Tala.

“Let’s try again” he suggests: “let’s be objective. We can’t leave them alone, here, and we don’t trust anyone to watch them. Especially not for two weeks”

“I wouldn’t leave them alone for a day” Bryan say through gritted teeth.

“Two weeks is definitely too long. And I wouldn’t trust anyone with one, let alone all of them” Spencer agrees.

“But, we can’t bring them along” Tala says, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. He leans forward, elbows on the table, and looks exhausted.

“We would expose them to too many dangers. There are too many variables that we could never predict” Bryan points out, in a calmer tone.

Spencer fills a glass of water and places it beside Tala’s elbows. The redhead sighs and drinks without protesting, muttering a soft thanks.

“I say we bring them along anyway” Spencer suggests, recovering his previous position: “They know by now that we got the invitation. If we don’t go, they’d think it’s because of them. Which is true, but, they would think it’s their fault”

“Man, I don’t want to deal with sixteen kids thinking it’s their fault we’re staying behind” Tala says, still rubbing his temples.

“Teenagers” Bryan specifies: “Three kids, and thirteen teenagers”

He spells ‘thirteen’ as if the word was particularly ominous.

It kind of is.

“If we bring them along, they will be exposed to a shitless amount of dangers” Ian butts in: “but we’ll be there. We can watch over them. We’ll keep them with us all the time”

Then he pauses.

Six eyes focuses on him, and he grimaces.

He has to be objective, he must, and they want him to be.

“Then again, there are dangers from which we couldn’t even protect ourselves. Take poison: we should check the food, water, even the air… and it’s not even the most unthinkable way for Boris to get to us. Or them”

Spencer sighs and lowers his eyes. Bryan swears. Tala just nods.

“And we would change place pretty quickly. We should keep moving, but we would be following a plan that anyone could get their hands on. This would be a double disadvantage: everything would be new for us, but anybody that saw that plan could easily overpower us” the captain reasons, and now it’s Ian’s turn to nod.

“What the fuck, guys, come on” Bryan exclaims: "Boris in in jail. If he manages to reach us, we’ll react"

“We can’t spend our lives holed up in here. And we can’t ask the kids to” Spencer says.

Ian doesn’t point out that that actually had been, more or less, their original plan.

Things have gone better now, but they still can’t’ let their guard down and fully relax. Not entirely.

Tala watches him, reading his thoughts, then he sighs.

“We should probably call Mr. Dickinson” he suggests.

“You hope he has a brilliant idea?” Spencer asks.

“Or that he hasn’t told about some detail that will help us with this mess?” Bryan adds.

“Both” Tala answers honestly.

He slides his phone from his pocket and puts the call on speaker. It rings a couple of times, then the tinny voice of the old man echoes loud in the now silent kitchen.

“Tala, my boy! Hi, how are you?” The cheery voice puts a tired smile on Tala’s face. The redhead looks up into Ian’s eyes, and Ian smiles back.

“Hi Mr. Dickinson. I’m fine, thanks. You’re on speaker, the rest of the team is here”

“Oh, hello boys! How are you all doing? Everything alright with the kids?”

A chorus of ‘hey, Mr. Dickinson’ and ‘hi, Mr. D’ follows.

“Is everything alright, boys? You sound distressed” the old man says, in a clearly worried voice: “are you ok? Tala, have you been treating yourself well? Has anything happened to the kids?”

Tala lifts his eyes to the ceiling to ignore his teammates’ smug expressions, as well as Bryan mouthing ‘I told you so’.

“The kid are fine, Mr. D” Spencer says.

“And Tala is behaving” Ian adds, to be fair.

“Oh. I thought you’d be calling in a brighter mood! I thought you’d like to join the reunion!”

“Well, we do. It’s just difficult to organize with the kids. We don’t want to leave them here” Tala explains.

Mr. Dickinson is silent, then he sounds surprised and baffled: “Why would you leave them… Oh!”

They all hear the sound of a noisy facepalm.

“I’m so sorry, boys, I really do apologize. With all this organizing, and running after half the people invited, I have forgotten to tell you”

Ian and Tala share an impatient expression, and both barely refrain to urge the old man to go out, and only out of the politeness he has earned from them.

“I have hired a team to protect you and the kids. It’s people who sometimes work as a security team, but actually they are what you could call a paramilitary association, specialized in dangerous interventions. They are very low profile, almost no one knows of their existence. And they are very used to dire situations, as I said. I know them well, and I trust them with my life. This will not be the first time I have entrusted the safety of someone dear to me into their hands. I wouldn’t turn to these people for a delicate task like the protection of you four and the kids, if I didn’t”

‘He’s hired security for us’ Ian mouths to the others, beaming.

This old man is always so careful, it’s touching and incredible.

Of course, Ian’s big brain also points out that the nice old man is stressing a lot that he trusts the people he has hired to protect them, and maybe he’s going a bit beyond his usual level of paranoid politeness. Who the hell has he hired, that he thinks the Demolition Boys need this much reassuring?

“Mr. Dickinson, I’m… we are very thankful for that and we trust you” Tala says, reading Ian’s thought in his big, blue eyes.

“No, no Tala, dear boy. It’s not that I want you to trust me. I want you to meet them, and to interrogate, if necessary, every single one of them. And I wish you did so before going further with the preparations for the reunion”

Spencer beams, Bryan shakes his head with a fond smile. The previous tension is slowly dissipating from the room, leaving the shoulders of its occupants.

“You know us so well, Mr. Dickinson” Ian says, smiling, well aware that the biggest reason why the old man is being this careful is exactly Ian himself, and his necessity to have everything under control.

The deep level of knowledge Mr. Dickinson has of them means also that they have become predictable, to him. It could be dangerous, his brainy brain points out. Ian tries to suppress the thought and reminds how much the man has helped them, him. Mr. Dickinson is a friend, an ally. It’s ok if allies sometime know you.

“My boy, I would be terribly irresponsible if I didn’t think about you and the kids. Nobody runs the risk you all do. You must have the freedom to join, but you must also be able to do so in a safe place. You need a security system, for the kids and yourself”

They don’t argue with that. Nobody, knowing Boris Balkov, would.

“Ok” Tala says.

“When are we supposed to meet them?” Spencer asks. He turns to Ian with an expressive stare.

Mr. Dickinson tells them an address and a time. Ian nods, he can make the location safe in fifteen minutes, and can start checking its status in that very moment.

“Ok, Mr. Dickinson” Tala repeats.

“Ah, boys… there is one last thing that I have to tell you”

They’re all ears: the voice of the old man is too interesting not to. He sounds like he’s about to confess something that embarrasses him, and, to Ian, this only proves that he must have hired someone… unthinkable.

Tala pins the phone with an hard glare, so curious he is, and it’s probably a good thing the real Mr. Dickinson isn’t there to bear the weight of that stare. Although he can probably guess it from the redhead’s voice.

“Do tell” Tala says, bordering between commanding and politeness.

“Erm, you see… I happen to know very, very well the leader of this group. He has served in the Russian army for some time, but he has left it and become a freelancer quite soon after starting. I met him almost ten years ago, he has helped me with people I needed protected. Even if I couldn’t pay him, and especially in extremely difficult cases”

They don’t interrupt, but all look at the cell phone expectantly.

“For example, I have entrusted Kai’s life to him, when Kai was busy with the trials against his grandfather”

The Boys look at each other, and Bryan shrugs, as if to say, that’s a point in favor for this guy.

“I really, really trust him. It’s only out of the depth of my trust for him, that I have thought of him to protect you and the kids”

The old man is really insisting, Ian notes, arcing an eyebrow.

Tala watches him and pulls his lips in a grimace, thinking the same.

“That’s fine, Mr. Dickinson. We believe you” the captain says.

“Yes, but… this person has, in fact, a… let’s say, an ulterior reason to take into extreme consideration the matter of your safety. And of the kids. It’s not just because he is particularly sensitive to the topic of children exploitation and protection, although that is very likely playing a part in his decision”

The four Demolition Boys frown simultaneously.

“Go on” Tala says.

“Ah well… I’ll cut this short, ok? Is Bryan there?”

Bryan looks surprised: “Yes, I’m here”

“Ok. Bryan, my boy, please, don’t forget I have only your safety and best interest in mind, and those of your teammates and the kids. Will you? So please, don’t be angry. I think I have already proved in the past that you can trust me, haven’t I?”

Bryan frowns at the phone, half because he’s impatient, half because he must not really like the sound of where this is heading.

“You have” he confirms, trying to go for an expressionless tone.

“I’m glad you sound so sure. Please remember I only want to protect you. He is the best, literally nothing could harm you, with him by your side. Sometimes, I wonder if he really is a man, he looks more like a force of nature”

“Mr. Dickinson, I take it it’s someone Bryan knows?” Tala asks, cutting the old man and bringing him to the point.

“Yes, yes he does. Bryan, it’s Radu”.

 

 

It’s incredible how a single name can have this paralyzing effect on someone, especially a person like Bryan.

In the time his team members need to figure out who this Radu person is, Bryan goes pale as a ghost, then he stumbles forward, to sit on a chair.

“What?!” he almost shouts.

The reaction is enough for the others to be absolutely sure that Mr. Dickinson has hired for their protection none other than Radu Kuznetov, Bryan’s eldest brother, and also the only living member of Bryan’s family who has survived the massacre that led Bryan to the Abbey in the first place.

They watch in considerate, respectful silence, eyes set on Bryan.

The temptation to grant their friend some privacy is high, but, with the risk of him slipping into his dangerous, triggered mode, it’s really not a good idea. They have to stay, they have to watch.

Spencer gets him some water, Ian gestures with slow movements for permission to disarm him, just in case. Tala stretches over the table and grabs his hands, intertwining their fingers.

Bryan seconds them, lets himself be disarmed, and fixes his eyes in Tala’s. He clenches and unclenches his jaw a couple of time, then he asks again, in a softer, not any less shocked, voice: “what?”

“I’m sorry for breaking the news on you in such a way. I truly am. Do you want me to keep talking?”

“No… Yes. Yes” Bryan says, hastily adding: “..please”

“If I remember correctly, you already knew he was still alive, didn’t you?” Mr. Dickinson tentatively asks.

Ian is tempted to smack his own face at the blatant attempt from the old man to assess just how much he has fucked up.

But Mr. Dickinson is a good old man, and Bryan, hell, them all, would forgive him for dumping a nasty news on him with not enough tact.

“Yes” Bryan answers: “during the trials against Boris. When I was asked to give my deposition. The judge told me… After I told them how I finished in the Abbey. They asked about my family, and… the judge told me she had been working on that case” Bryan speaks in a slow, controlled tone, like one who is trying to put things back together, into a resemblance of order.

“She said.. she told me Radu was alive, that he had sued the army”

Mr. Dickinson makes a small sound of agreement: “He did. I met him nine years ago, right after he won the trial. He wasn’t happy, obviously: winning the trial didn’t give him his family back. He had been trying to look for you, asked the army’s help for that. He said he regretted teaching you to hide so well. By the time he managed to track you, you were already in the Abbey”

Bryan shift his eyes from Tala to the phone, then back to Tala, then back to the phone.

Ian isn’t sure, but he would swear he saw something like guilt flashing in Tala’s eyes…

“He turned to me at that time. He needed help getting inside the Abbey” Mr. Dickinson explains.

“Nobody could get inside that place” Ian mutters: “his security systems were beyond paranoid. I’ve tried to crack them hundreds of time, and only barely managed to, once or twice”

“You are right, Ian, but you don’t know Radu. I was serious, when I said that sometimes I believe he is less human, and more some supernatural being. I gave him all the information I had, and, even if it was already old, he managed to sneak in with a very small team of his men”

“Then why didn’t he get me out?” Bryan asks, in a calmer, colder and still so soft voice that doesn’t bother to hide pain or anger.

“He couldn’t. It was.. unfortunate, really. The night he managed to get inside the Abbey was same night of Kai’s incident with Black Dranzer. In the confusion that followed, Radu and his men managed to leave without being caught, but by then Boris had realized someone had gotten in. Radu kept trying again for years, but never succeeded again”

“At that point, Boris had started changing the security system too often for someone to crack it from outside the Abbey” Ian nods, thinking aloud.

Still, this Radu guy managed to get inside, once. That definitely earns him credits in Ian’s book. Of course, there is always the slight issue of abandoning Bryan to his terrible destiny in the Abbey, which isn’t exactly a small, negative detail to forget.

“Yes, Ian, you are correct. But, Bryan, believe me when I tell you, he has never forgiven himself for not finding you that night” Mr. Dickinson remarks.

Bryan’s jaw moves again without forming words, mouth opening and closing.

He wouldn’t be able to voice proper words anyway, he would just stutter something at best.

At some point he shakes one hand free from Tala’s grasp, who lets go with no resistance.

It’s a movement fast enough to worry them, but they know this isn’t Bryan being violent. Not yet.

He grabs the glass with his free hand, gulps down the water, then slams the glass back on the table so hard that it almost cracks. His grip on Tala’s hand becomes even stronger, knuckles turning white and arm slightly shaking, and he hides his face behind the other hand.

The guys are silent, torn between the push to let him space, give him privacy and the need to check that he doesn’t spiral out of control. There is no way they can make him feel any less the heavy weight of their stare.

At the same time, it’s also a way to remind him they’re there, supporting him. Not just waiting for the moment he will inevitably lash out, but also to help.

“I really am sorry for telling you like this” Mr. Dickinson apologizes again.

That seems to be what finally triggers Bryans anger. He shoves backward, the chair falling on the floor, and starts pacing through the kitchen.

He almost punches a wall, stopping himself at the very last moment, then he closes his eyes and stands there, in the middle of the kitchen, hands clasped against his forehead.

It doesn’t hide his pained expression, at all.

“Why” he asks, whispering after a long silence: “why?” he repeats, raising his voice but not opening his eyes yet: “He knew where I was, after I left the Abbey. Why the hell has he not shown up once, for four fucking years?”

Maybe it’s the posture, or the voice, or the light in his green eyes, when he opens them. Ian doesn’t know, Tala couldn’t say, Spencer doesn’t even ask himself what it is. They all see it, and it makes them all react at once.

Tala stands, moving fluid and slow enough not to activate the triggers in Bryan’s conditioned head. He hugs the Falborg master, enveloping in his arms in a way that suggests they started doing so when they were the same height. Bryan hugs back and rests his forehead on the redhead’s shoulder, hands clutching his captain’s back. After a while, Spencer mimics Tala, engulfing Bryan in a tight hug from behind, and Bryan lets himself be dragged, taking Tala with him, forcing the captain to stumble a couple of steps in the direction Spencer drags them to.

Resigned to having to make his own part, Ian joins what has now become a group hug.

“I wish there were other ways I could have told you, my dear, dear boy” Mr. Dickinson says: “He was so sure you would be angry at him, for not being there for you, the day of the massacre.. and, later on, I am afraid he felt he had failed you, not managing to rescue from the Abbey… I think he believes you would not want to see him” the old man explains in a sad voice, then he pauses, and the Demolition Boys can almost see him smiling his soft smile: “he is just as stubborn as you are, Bryan”

Bryan chuckles, and it’s so different from the way he laughs since after the Abbey. It’s a terribly wet laughter, even slightly hysterical, only partly muffled by Tala’s body. The fact that he doesn’t bother to cover up the fact that he is crying is a good indicator to know how much in pain he is.

“You have no idea. He’s way worse than me” he mutters.

Mr. Dickinson hesitates, partly because hearing Bryan cry is a new thing also for him, and he knows the Boys, and this one in particular, well enough to have a decent grasp of the situation.

“Do you.. do you want me to call you back?”

“No” Bryan answers, his breathing regular, his voice calm, simply not bothering to hide the tears staining his cheeks: “No. We can do the interview. We don’t really need it, nothing would get past Radu, but we will do it anyway, for Ian’s sake. I’m sure the shrimp here needs personal verification”

Ian doesn’t even attempt to protest. He simply smiles and answers with fake sarcasm: “You know me so well”

“I do” Bryan comments, in this eerily soft and calm voice, still silently crying.

“O.. ok then. I… I apologize again, Bryan, for telling you in such a way” the old man starts again, but Bryan snorts.

“I’m going to see my big brother, Mr. D, and it’s only thanks to you. How could I be angry with you?”

 

They tell the kids that Bryan is not feeling well. The kids don’t pressure, not even the twins, but they all know that this has nothing to do with any sickness of any sorts.

Spencer carries Bryan bridal state, possibly for the first time ever, and it strikes everyone who witnesses it: Spencer is a tall, big man, but Bryan is only slightly shorter, even if definitely not as broad-shouldered. It’s still an incredible sight, seeing Spencer carrying him, and not Tala, or Ian, or one of the kids.

Ian and Tala have the kids grouped around the sofa, where Bryan is deposited and promptly blanketed by the kids and the other three Demolition Boys.

He sleeps for hours, and the rest of the Blitzkrieg Family moves as little as possible, not to jest the suffering boy. They take turns leaving, and always leave him covered by warm bodies. The youngest kids sing some of the lullabies Bryan sing to them.

When he wakes up, he’s still out of it, but it’s better that weird, numbed look than an angry one. They all know anger is coming, just as well: that is the way Bryan reacts to big things, and to anything involving his past or his biological family.

Nobody wants to provoke him, though, and it’s only self-preservation that has even the twins avoid asking about this Radu person, or his family, or even some explanations about what the Demolition Boys have referred from their talk with Mr. Dickinson.

It takes Bryan almost an entire day before he shakes himself out of this shocked stupor he has fallen in.

Then anger kicks in, and he disappears, and when he comes back he’s covered in bruises, dirt and blood, and Tala really hopes he hasn’t killed anyone (Bryan himself says he hasn’t, geez Tala, chill). He demands to be the first to meet Radu at their supposed rendezvous, and refuses to leave his knives at home for the occasion.

Although he promises he won’t stab his brother, unless he really needs to.


	4. In the early hours of the morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryan comes back home after doing some damage to let out the tension. He definitely doesn't think about his brother, when he sees Tala in the kitchen.
> 
> Tala had a nightmare and would like some comfort.
> 
> Spencer is the cherry on top of that cake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I couldn't resist this.  
> This is the smut you've been waiting for. Careful for: M/M/M. 
> 
> You're welcome. Enjoy.

Chapter 4: in the early hours of the morning

Tala wakes up suddenly, the nightmare startling from deep sleep.

He instinctively reaches behind and feels for Bryan, and frowns when he doesn’t find him. Still shaken by the nightmare, and with the head full of bad memories, he lifts himself on an elbow and takes in the dark room.

He is alone. Bryan has still not come back from wherever he’s gone to.

He gulps a big mouthful of saliva. He knows he shouldn’t worry. Nightmares are nightmares, and they can’t hurt you in real life. Except when they are more bad memories of a past you wish to forget. Then they potentially could.

He sits on the bed and hugs his knees, pressing them to his chest.

Bryan is having a hard time dealing with his own ghosts, he knows. Even if he didn’t share the close bond he has with the boy, he would know how difficult the last twenty-four hours have been for the Falcon.

Tala himself wishes his own family will never come back into his life again. For Bryan, to have a family member back after what he has gone through... that must hurt. Tala is tempted to hate this Radu guy, just for reappearing in Bryan’s life and making him hurt like this. As if he hadn’t been through enough shit, uh?

He rests his forehead against his knees.

He hates memories. He hates nightmares. He hates Boris and his life in the Abbey, for coming back at him and taunting him in his sleep.

He sighs and silently gets up, putting on clothes and shuffling out his room as quietly as he can. No way he’ll go back to sleep after this. Spencer will probably throw a fit, if he finds Tala in the kitchen before him, but the redhead would much rather face an irate Spencer in morning mode than try to go back to sleep and see, again, what he has just dreamt.

He walks slowly by the doors of his team members. He is tempted to bypass Ian’s door, since Valeryia is sleeping here, tonight too, and he doesn’t really want to hear the sound of them putting to good use the hours of the night.

He leans towards the door anyway, while still considering he probably shouldn’t. No sound come from Ian’s room, anyway. He closes his eyes and try to focus on every sound around him, just to make sure the occupants of the room are fine. He needs to focus a lot, but, with all the brain enhancing that has been done to him, he can actually hear the sound of regular breathing coming from the other side of the door.

Satisfied, he moves to Spencer’s room. Here he doesn’t have to put so much effort: he can hear quite easily Spencer’s light snoring from inside, and he smiles and moves downstairs.

He checks all the doors of the kids, too. Everyone is sleeping, expect the twins, who are whispering something between each other. Tala doesn’t mind, and leave them to their chatting. It might be they are up to some mischief, but it could also be one of them, or both, had a nightmare, and they’re talking about it. Or anything else, really.

Down another ramp of stairs, he shuffles to the kitchen, and sees a light is on in the room.

He stops and smirks.

‘Here you are’ he thinks, and moves as silently as he can towards the closed door, from under which light is seeping out.

Bryan doesn’t even startle. He must have heard him walking, Tala bets.

And then the captain realizes Bryan’s hand are still dirty from blood that has only hastily been washed away, and his boyfriend is hunched forward, head held up by one of the hands, smearing faint traces of blood on his forehead.

‘Oh, Bryan…’ he thinks, trying all his best not to let the disappointment show.

He should have expected this, he thinks. He should. He knows Bryan, and he knew that he was taking the news of his brother way too well. He hadn’t freaked out before mysteriously leaving the house, and he hadn’t broken anything. He should have known this was coming, he curses himself.

Silently praying there isn’t a dead body or more in Moscow’s streets that is dead because of his boyfriend, Tala goes to the cupboard, takes two glasses and fills them with running water from the tab. He places one in front of Bryan, who’s still looking down at the table, and sits in front of him.

It’s only then that Tala realizes Bryan’s favorite knife is resting on the table, still dripping blood. A small puddle of red has formed under the blade.

He sighs.

“Spencer is going to give you hell for bringing blood in his kitchen” he comments softly.

Bryan snorts, and raises his piercing green eyes.

Tala is relieved to see that he looks tired, but otherwise free from his demons: he doesn’t look sad, or angry, and he isn’t in his triggered, violent mood.

If only his pretty smile wasn’t ruined by the blood staining his face.

“Let me guess: whoever it was, they lost the duel”

Bryan smiles and nods: “Man, I try, but nothing is like sparring with someone who doesn’t know you’re just sparring”

Tala stretches his lips in a very thin smile. He kind of agrees, although he is trying to repress all the violence that has been instilled into him. Bryan, on the other hand, seems unable to do the same.

‘At least the kids aren’t here to witness it’

“Are they dead?” he asks.

Bryan shakes his head and takes the glass. He drinks, and stains the glass with the blood still on his hands.

“No, he’s not. And don’t worry, he had it coming. It was just a creep, bothering some hookers”

Tala snorts. He’s relieved to know Bryan hasn’t killed someone, and can understand the logic of some creeper having it coming for bothering prostitutes in the street.

“What are you, Batman?”

Bryan chuckles: “Naw man, I’m cooler than a stupid bat man”

Tala snorts and chuckles. This was an old banter they had going on when they were kids, during the first year they lived together in the streets. Tala was a huge fan of Batman, while Bryan, having been brought up by an half Native American mother, didn’t know anything about superheroes.

“How about you go and wash up? I’ll try to clean here, before Spence comes down” Tala suggests.

Bryan smiles: “You’re a darling, aren’t you?”

Tala scowls: “Don’t you dare”

Bryan grins more: “And so beautiful”

Tala scowls more.

Bryan doesn’t stop taunting, and smiles with this incredible smile that he has only recently learned he is able to do, the one that bends Tala’s will and brings him to his knees every single time.

“No, seriously, you are the prettiest thing in the world”

Tala hates being objectified. Or called pretty. It reminds him too much of all the times he’s almost been assaulted in the Abbey, or all the times he had to take care of wandering hands trying to cop a feel.

But when Bryan says it, and probably exactly because he rarely says it, he feels… well. He blushes, even trying very much not to. He likes it. When it’s Bryan saying it, it’s ok, because Tala trusts him, and it’s not Boris or one of the guards or one of the oldest, biggest kids when he was a newbie.

He stands and brings both glasses in the sink.

“Tala…” Bryan cat-calls.

‘Oh god, not this, please’

He starts washing the glasses, paying extra attention to wash away the blood, and feels Bryan moving. He isn’t surprised when two hands grab his hips and a body is pressed against his back.

Bryan’s warm breath behind his ear is becoming more than he can put up with. His dirty hands are leaving bloody, hand-shaped stains on his jeans.

He should feel disgusted. He should scold him for ruining his jeans and tell him to go shower. At least to go shower, first. And they should clean the table.

He doesn’t even realize his own breathing has gotten faster.

Bryan starts kissing the nape of his neck, and Tala tries his best not to tremble, but, fuck, it's hard. As in, it's really difficult.

Well, it is also hard, too, at this point, he thinks. He still tries to focus on washing the glass, now shining from the treatment with the soapy water, and bites his lip and smirks because, fuck he knows where this is going.

Bryan's hard dick pressed against the small of his back can confirm it, too.

"Spencer will kill us" Tala murmurs.

Bryan's chuckles low and predatory, licking Tala's ear, and nips at the lobe.

"Let's not get caught then"

Before Tala can protest, or even close the running water, Bryan drop to his knees and pushes his head against Tala's butt. He rubs his face against the clothed skin, mouthing and biting at the jeans.

Tala drops the glasses and shoves his hands under the water, to wash away the soap. He closes the tab and moves for the buttons of his jeans, but Bryan beats him to it.

The Falcon cups him through his jeans, sneaking one hand between Tala's legs, up to his front, and gives the redhead's erection a good squeeze.

Tala can feel his legs tremble and bites his lower lip not to moan too loud, but, he knows himself. There is no way he can keep his fucking mouth shut, especially not with Bryan in that position, about to do what he thinks he'll do.

'Oh sweet Jesus please don't make me scream....'

Bryan slowly pops the button open and shoves the jeans down Tala's legs, until they're under his buttocks, and presses his face against the pale skin of Tala's butt.

He murmurs softly in appreciation, and Tala wishes he could say he isn't getting even more hot and bothered by that chauvinist, machist and demeaning show of affection for his butt.

He really, really wishes he could hang on his big talk about gender equality and negative and toxic masculinity, but, fuck, in this moment he doesn't really feel like making political statements, all he wants is just to be fucked into tomorrow.

He feels Bryan's cold hands, still stained with blood, opening his cheeks and feels more than hear the hum his boyfriend makes, pushing his face right in the middle. Tala moans softly, and clenches his jaw really, really hard, praying that at least this time he'll manage not to be too loud...

"Quiet, there, or I'll stop" Bryan threatens, and Tala whimpers, and hates himself for it, but fuck him if he can stop.

Bryan doesn't give him much time to prepare, and dives forward, giving his already quivering hole a nice slide of his tongue.

Tala moans louder, startling himself, and puts his hand up against his mouth. Bryan chuckles, the fucker, and gets to eat him out in earnest, Tala shivering and trembling in pleasure, biting his closed fist and pushing it against his mouth.

Bryan doesn't go easy on him, doesn't let him time to brace himself against the assault, he licks and pushes his tongue in, devouring him, and Tala bends over on the sink, his cock painfully hard and pressed against the counter, and starting to leak.

When the Falcon draws back Tala moans at the loss, and Bryan chuckles again, murmuring softly, slipping fingers inside that open Tala even more than the tongue did.

The redhead bites his fist and clenches his teeth and rolls his eyes, while the fingers aim straightforwardly for his prostate, and start hammering it too much, too fast, too soon, but fuck if Tala is complaining.

He bends completely over the sink, his body drawing a ninety degrees angle, and Bryan swears softly, murmuring how beautiful Tala is, how pretty he is, so open and ready, so greedy for him.

Tala moans more, this time like a prayer muffled by his own fist, and Bryan stands, still fingering him hard, undoes his own jeans and fists his cock with barely a couple of strokes, then places himself right behind Tala.

He angles his dick so that only the tip of it is slipping inside the redhead. Tala growls and moans and mewls, and Bryan chuckles at the obvious 'bastard' Tala is sending to him.

He pushes inside in one go, and then he stills, giving Tala the necessary time to adjust. The redhead breathes and tries to focus through the fog of slight pain that's filling his brain, at the sudden penetration. Thank God he is so tight, yes, but also so very elastic... had he been a normal person he would be probably crying right now. Bryan isn't exactly small, and even after being eaten out and relaxed, spit isn't enough for Tala's body to accommodate something big in such a tight place.

"Can I?" Bryan asks.

Tala nods, sighing softly, and braces himself against the sink with his other hand.

Bryan pushes and draws back softly a couple of time, but Tala knows better than to think he's going for a sweet ride.

The hands adjust the hold on his hips and Bryan starts fucking him hard and fast, just like they both like it, and Tala pushes his fist so hard against his mouth his teeth hurt, but still he can't completely muffle the sounds. His eyes roll back and he prays nobody will catch them, the kids or Ian or Spencer or Valeryia, and then he's lost to pleasure.

Bryan knows they are on a tight time schedule, and he starts fisting Tala's dick, as soon as he feels his own orgasm close. He would normally make the redhead come just on his dick, but they have to be quick, and Tala is being so good and fuck, Bryan loves him, adores his body and he would spend his entire existence fucking him...

Tala comes first, bursting and smearing the sink, and Bryan jacks him off all the while. He lets go when Tala softly whimpers for the too much stimulation, then he grabs again both slender hips and pushes against Tala's butt almost like he wants to break something.

He comes so hard like it has rarely happened before, eyes shut in pleasure, and he's still coming when he realizes he hasn't kept his focus on the sounds around them and a strong hand closes against his throat and he's dragged slightly back and...

Spencer's tongue angrily fills his mouth, and Bryan whimpers and moans against it, eyes open in shock. His orgasm doesn't allow him to watch his friend much, though, and he bends over coming inside Tala.

The redhead turns over his shoulder and watches Spencer with big, shocked eyes.

Bryan is still inside him, and has just come so hard he has almost blacked out, but he still finds Tala so beautiful and fuckable with that expression, it's crazy.

Spencer's big hand caresses Bryan's hair, the big guy keeping eye contact with his captain, whose breathing is heavy.

Tala notices with a very quick once-over that there is something big and hard inside Spencer's pants.

"You defiled my kitchen" he murmurs, dangerous and low.

Tala swallows, and Bryan, still draped on him and pushed down by Spencer's big hand in his hair, opens eyes and watches him.

"I wonder, what will I ever have you to do to make you pay for that?"

Tala holds his gaze.

One thing is fantasizing about orgies with your teammates. Another thing is one of them catching you having sex with another, and looking at you like you're the last glass of water in the desert.

He curses his own damned, enhanced and engineered body for starting to heat up again.

Bryan pushes against Spencer's grip but doesn't try to stand again.

"What do you have in mind?" He tentatively asks.

His voice is ragged, too, Tala notices.

Spencer smiles, tall and dangerous, and Tala wishes it wasn't turning him on so much.

"Well, looks like you did the most of the job, dirtying the place, Bryan. I'd say it's only fair you make yourself... Available, don't you think?"

Bryan swallows, and Tala can feel him harden again inside him. He clenches around him and Bryan, caught by surprise, moans while still staring at Spencer.

Spencer smirks, his free hand moving to his own waistband.

He pushes it down (who knew Spencer goes commando??) and there is his dick, big and hard just after seeing the two of them, and fuck if it isn't turning both Tala and Bryan on.

Tala's mouth waters at the sight of the monster Spencer was hiding in his pants.

"I can help you with that" he offers, before he can think about it.

Spencer and Bryan give him a surprised stare, but then they smile.

Spencer lets Bryan up, and he pulls back from Tala's body, squatting and bringing Tala's jeans down to his ankles in the process. The redhead steps out of his pants, a white rivulet starting to leak down his thigh, and he kneels in front of Spencer, who's holding his dick out for him like you'd present a candy to a kid.

"You want it, Tala?" Spencer asks, playing coy.

Tala strips his shirt and nods, opening his mouth a bit and batting his lashes.

He knows what picture he makes like this, and he loves it.

Especially since it's with two of the people he trusts the most in this world.

Bryan chuckles from where he's leaning on the counter, undressing and discarding clothes on the floor.

"I'd say that's a yes"

Spencer smirks.

"Yeah? You want it, Tala?" He taunts.

Tala pushes forward and licks the tip of Spencer's cock, lapping at it and sucking it in. He sucks his cheeks in and looks up at Spencer, knowing fully well what's the picture he's giving him.

Spencer frowns, lips parted, and Bryan starts jacking off at the counter.

Tala sucks Spencer with all the skill he has ever mastered in this department, and Spencer is gritting his teeth not to fuck his skull.

He moans around the dick in his mouth and uses his hands too, makes it a real show for Spencer, and when the big guy stops him he just moans more and goes further on. Spencer grabs him by his hair and drags him away from his dick, and keeps dragging until he has him standing.

Tala's lips are red and swollen, chin covered in spit, and his eyes are glassy with lust. Spencer grabs his throat, while still not letting go of his hair, and tongue fucks his face.

Bryan swears and leans more backwards on the sink, fisting his cock.

When Spencer is done kissing Tala, he lets him go and Tala whimpers.

"Go back where you were, sweet thing, you looked good there" Spencer demands.

Tala hums and joins Bryan at the sink. Then he stops, looks back at Spencer with a mischievous smirk and drops down to his knees.

He pushes Bryan until he's with his front against the sink and dives to eat him out, making him gasp and moan at the surprise.

Spencer fists his cock while looking at the both of them, until he decides that's enough.

"Move, Tala" he commands.

The redhead obeys and slides away on the floor, allowing Spencer to line himself up behind Bryan and pushing in.

Bryan opens his mouth in a silent moan. He's not used to being a bottom, he usually is the one who tops Tala. Even when he doesn't, and it's the redhead fucking him, he's not used being stretched this much - and that's not because Tala might lack something, but because Spencer is definitely bigger than the average size.

He feels stretched open to his limits and possibly even beyond, and breathes carefully through his nose and mouth, and tries to relax against the intrusion.

Tala would always fuck him so, so slowly. Spencer, on the other hand, doesn't give him the idea he is about to do the same.

"Fuck, Bryan, you're so fucking tight" Spencer moans, grabbing Bryan's hips and pushing very slowly and carefully.

Bryan moans. He closes his eyes and then opens them, feeling so full.

On the floor, Tala starts stroking and fingering himself, sprawled close to Bryan's feet, where he can enjoy the show, and at the same time entertain the two guys over there.

"Look at your boy, Bry" Spencer mutters at Bryan's ear, with a satisfied grin: "look at him. He sure enjoys you taking it up the ass, uh?"

"I enjoy it, too" Bryan says with a broken voice.

Tala chuckles, pushing his own fingers deeper and faster inside himself. He moans and lets his head fall back, and when he looks up again Bryan is moaning through clenched teeth, eyes fixed on Tala, and Spencer shift his gaze from Bryan's naked back to Tala on the floor.

He has the feeling this is all a dream. Bryan moans a bit louder and grasps madly at the counter, mouth hanging open while Spencer starts pounding him hard, much harder than Tala usually does, and he prays, if this is a dream, don't wake us up, brain.

"Fucking hell Bryan" Spencer swears: "how are you this tight"

"I'm sorry, are you complaining?" Bryan asks in a stuttering, broken voice.

Spencer chuckles.

"Oh, if you can sass, then I'm not doing this right!"

He fucks Bryan so hard and fast as the boy has never been. Bryan moans and whimpers and bites his arm, bent over the sink.

His knuckles go white as he holds on for dear life, and he whimpers half in pleasure, half in pain.

Tala is so close his mouth is hanging open, eyes set on the scene in front of him. Bryan still has blood on his hands, and he's smearing it on the sink and counter, but Spencer doesn't care in the least.

"Fucking hell" Tala mutters at some point, and then he arches on the floor and comes spasming, and he doesn't come up from where he lays.

He stares at the ceiling, half dozed and numb from pleasure, and hears Spencer starting to jack Bryan off, Bryan coming with a muffled scream, and Spencer coming inside Bryan with a barely repressed moan.

 

Spencer slaps Bryan's asscheek and laughs fondly and low.

"Ouch, man!"

Tala chuckles too, from the floor.

"Seriously, Spence, fuck you, what the hell have I done to you!"

"Are you complaining?"

"Fuck no, but, well, in a sense, yes I am"

Bryan tries to jostle himself as little as possible and turns, back to the counter, and slides to the floor.

He winces and swears: "I'm cancelling my training today, no fucking way I'll ride a bike after the way you've fucked me"

"Such a pretty princess, aren't you?" Tala taunts him.

"Fuck you too, pretty boy, this is your fault too!" Bryan bites back, smiling.

"How is that my fault now!"

"You always fuck me gentle and soft!"

Tala shakes his head and decides not to go against Bryan's reasoning.

"Now off with both of you, I've got a fucking kitchen to clean. Look at the mess you've made!" Spencer declares faking a stern tone.

"Fuck you! It's your fault!" Bryan protests.

"I've already fucked you, and I don't bottom" Spencer replies, smirking.

Tala helps Bryan up.

"Seriously. This isn't changing anything, is it?"

He knows he shouldn't, but he needs to ask.

Spencer and Bryan both look at him with a very serious expression, and maybe a tad of a 'why did you ask' expression, too.

"It's not, if it doesn't for you. Both" Spencer replies.

"It doesn't" Tala says.

They both look at Bryan, who scoffs and shakes his shoulder and then winces in pain.

"This has been an amazing fuck. Why would I complain?"

Tala smirks: "I thought you said Spencer was too rough for you!"

"Fuck you, Tala. Next time, you get that monster dick in your ass. I want to see how you fair, after" Bryan challenges.

Tala is struck with the mental image, and shivers and bites his lip. He smiles wolfishly.

"We'll see, I guess" he says, and casts a glance to Spencer.

The tallest boy has already given his back to them and started mopping up the floor with some paper towels.

"You just have to say when, Tala, you just have to say when"


	5. Radu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The only thing Radu wants is the thing he knows he will never get: his baby brother back as he remembers him, all those years ago.
> 
> However, he's willing to have any version of him he might get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is entirely from the point of view of an OC. If you don't recognize him or what he's on about, don't worry. 
> 
> I might have gone a bit too far with a certain detail. You'll know what I mean when you reach that point. Maybe give me a feedback about it?

Chapter 5: Radu

He's in the desert.  


The moon is high in the starry sky.

His mother would have liked to see this. She had always liked starry nights, with the moon shining bright. She used to say it was one of her favorite things, which always made Radu think it odd, that she’d named one of her daughters after the sun, or a star, instead of the moon.

The wind is chilly, as it often is in this part of the world. He stills himself against the blowing air, once again proved right in his decision to wear this particular jacket under his armor. Some of his men, behind him, are fighting against the shivers, and he bites back a smirk: he told them it’d be this cold.

It makes him think about Bryan.

He resists the urge of shaking his head.

 

 

He is in Palestine.

The blood on his hands makes him think about his only chance.

He was too late. The only time he could have saved his baby brother he had been too late. Bryan had to kill someone and it was only Radu’s fault. He should have known better than to wait that much time. He knew his father. He had seen the signs sooner than anyone else in his family. He knew.

He sighs, the blood spilled on the floor after the massacre. The baby is crying softly, held safely in the arms of Radu’s second in command. It doesn’t matters how many other kids he manages to rescue. It will never be Bryan.

 

 

He is in the Cherokee reservation. Some of his relatives are here, friends and family from his mother's side.

He herds the horses and wonders and thinks.

He has spent years biting his hands for teaching Bryan to hide so well. If only he hadn’t, he might have found him before Balkov did. He could have spared him the horrors of the Abbey, at least. But no, not even from that nightmare had Radu managed to shield him. Some older brother he has been.

It doesn’t help to think that he hasn’t even managed to save the boy who unleashed the fire, the night he broke into the Abbey.

 

 

Mr. Dickinson is a good man, and, as soon as he had known Bryan was going to be in the blading team in the first Russian championship, he’d called Radu and informed him. Radu had planned and plotted at length, then he’d seen his baby brother battling on TV… and he had shivered, half in pride half in horror.

Bryan used to be all smiles and sweet and fun. They’d turned him into some rabid animal, instead. Radu had felt so much at fault, he bailed out on his own plan, so carefully thought, to rescue him. It was too late, he had told himself. He should just recognized it.

He changed his plan, and didn't fly to Russia from Japan. Instead, he set off for Kinshasa.

 

 

 

Mr. Dickinson is a good man, and he didn’t give up on Radu and Bryan. He tried to look for a chance to bring the brothers together, even intentionally created it, when he couldn’t find one.

This time, Radu took it. He had seen Bryan at the trial, witnessing against Boris. Working to rebuild his own life, fighting for something that wasn’t just blood and evil and violence. Radu had seen him in court. With the Abbey kids, with his teammates, smiling, happy, and vengeful in the only positive way Radu could have ever hoped for him.

Bryan wanted revenge against Boris, for ruining his life. Radu felt proud, happy. He wished he could help his baby brother, his kid brother who was now as much as a warrior as he had never been before. He felt guilty. He thought, I have failed you when you needed me most, and you should hate me too. You should want revenge from me too.

But he took the chance anyway.

 

 

He's back to Russia. He's flown back here as soon as Mr. Dickinson called.

A few days later, Mr. Dickinson calls again. He informs Radu that the Demolition Boys have agreed to meet him and his team to test the waters, see if they can trust Radu’s team to protect them and the kids.

Radu is a bit worried, anxious even. He goes through all the information he has put together about the Boys, because he never walks into a mission unprepared. If he has to protect them, he must know their histories, too, because it’s in the shadows of their past that danger hides. There could be more than just Boris they will need protection from.

So he sets his second in command to worry about the geek boy, Ian. He will not trust them, Radu knows, and he’s partially happy about it. That the boy is slow to give his trust to people is a good sign, an evidence of his working brain. But Radu means the Boys no harm, and he will have to prove it to him. They just have to show him. Vanar can handle it.

He assigns Spencer to his left hand man. Franz is hierarchically below Vanar, but they always work together. And Franz is good at people, and he’s blunt and straightforward. He can work around a guy like Spencer, who is very protective of his friends and kids.

The redhead captain of the team is a bit more of a problem. More than once he had almost become one of the targets of Radu's team: alarmingly too often, Radu and his team have been contacted by different people who were interested in the boy. He is pretty (hell, Radu would even say the boy is astonishingly beautiful, even from his very heterosexual point of view), and he is famous, and he is unique, what with the engineered brain and genetically modified DNA.

He was a pretty little thing and has been turned into perfection, and that calls for problems like little else could.

It isn’t only creepers, pedophiles or evil geniuses who are after him. The boy doesn’t know, but he has the misfortune of being the only remaining direct descendent of the Russian royal family.

His mother is the granddaughter of the Great Duchess Anastasia, who really survived the execution of his family, go figure.

Radu knows because, after being offered ridiculously high amount of money once too many, he had wanted to investigate what was so special about this boy. He’s met his mother, and it turned out that the boy doesn’t even know what his real name is.

His real, very royally sounding name, which, it turned out, is Taras Yurij Alexiej Nikolaj. Radu still doesn’t understand what had the boy’s mother been thinking, when she’s named her child after not just one, but two of the last male members of the royal family. Probably a joined decision with her husband.

'We are secretly the parents of the only candidate for becoming the new emperor of Russia! Let’s give him a bunch of names, two of which could attract a lot of unwanted, dangerous attention, especially put together. Wouldn't that be a fantastic idea?'

Radu still hasn’t managed to understand if Balkov knew. He bets young Tala himself doesn’t even know his name goes further than Yurij.

People after the heir of the last Tsar, as well as people after a very good-looking boy, have tried to hire Radu and his men. They specialize in the impossible, after all, and many times this had meant crossing lines with the laws or even going against what common sense would judge moral.

People had the right to assume Radu and his team were the right people for a job like abducting a kid, for whatever purpose they had in mind. They should have thought better, though, than mentioning what said purpose was. Bring me the prince-boy, I’ll cover you in gold. Don’t think about how I will make him scream, once he’s mine.

Radu would never harm a boy, and he would in particular never tear a single hair out of the fiery red scalp of this one, considering the bond the boy has with Bryan. That detail in particular might have been enough to push Radu to slaughter the majority of the creepers interested in the boy.

He has set Natalia on the task of studying and collecting as much information as possible regarding him. She has been a spy for so long, she is the only one who can.

He himself has, obviously, taken Bryan as his mission, so he will be the one to contact him and deal with him. He is the one who has to prove to Bryan they can be trusted. So he was the one who had to study Bryan's past.

Maybe he shouldn’t have, he thinks, half way through his researches. It made him feel a murderous rage, and not only against Balkov.

 

 

Two days later Mr. Dickinson tells him Bryan wants to meet with Radu, as first thing.

Radu shows up to the place he’s supposed to meet him. He feel more nervous than if he was going to meet the woman of his life. He is armed because you never know. And because, what if someone target his brother right in front of Radu. And also because he knows his baby brother is now just as dangerous as he himself.

He has managed to sneak after Bryan, unseen, although, man, has it been difficult. It’s like Bryan has eyes on his back, too, now. He’s definitely been turned into a good soldier, damned Balkov and his lackeys.

Anyway: Radu has seen what Bryan can do with a knife. He’d be a fool to go and meet him unprepared, unarmed, and expecting his kid brother not to, at the very least, punch him or try to stab him. He will probably have to let him, too. If only for the horrible guilt he feels. Somewhere non vital, hopefully.

So Radu goes to the café where he’s supposed to meet Bryan, a place Mr. Dickinson stressed the boy is very familiar with, and, instead of taking position in some hidden corner in the nearby alleys, he walks inside and move to sit at a table.

Mr. Dickinson, who is a very good man indeed, is there, and waves at him.

“I’ll leave as soon as your boy shows up, no worries” the old man assures him.

Radu can’t help the relief he feels at not having to wait for Bryan alone.


	6. The Kuznetovs Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryan faces his past, and goes meet Radu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst and fluff. Kuznetov brothers reunion. 
> 
> Bryan's family mentioned. 
> 
> Also mentioned is the way I've reconstructed his past. I am aware this is stretching a lot from the anime and or manga, but, hey. The Demolition Boys are my favorite characters and they were mentioned so not enough in them. So.
> 
> Yes there will be tears. No I don't regret it. Yes I hope it's worthy.

Chapter 6: The Kuznetovs Brothers

 

Radu is in the café.

Bryan can't believe his eyes.

He's been mad at him. He's been afraid of him. Angry and disappointed and hurt and had felt betrayed.

Where were you, when you were supposed to save me? You always played the part of the hero, when I was a kid, always came to rescue me.

Where were you, when I needed you the most?

Betrayed, he felt betrayed. And cast out. And abandoned. And hurt.

And he had been so afraid. Afraid Radu would find out what his baby brother had done to their father. Afraid to admit he hadn't been half the hero Radu already was. He couldn't save his sisters. He couldn't help his mom. He let all that happen.

He had been so scared that Radu would find out and blame him.

Dad had come home crazy, but neither he, his sisters or his mother had realized. When they had, it was already too late, and his mom and his tiny, baby sister lied at the bottom of the stairs, with their necks broken.

Tatiana had shielded Bryan and the twins. Told him, run, go away. She stayed there, confronted their father, who was calling her names and insulted her and stabbed her so many times.

Bryan and his twin sisters had run for the roof. His father had butchered Tatiana and come for them. He'd grabbed Ekaterina's ankle while she was still trying to hoist herself up the roof.

He'd dragged her down and chopped her head off with an axe.

Maria had fallen down the roof for the shock, trying to reach her twin and failing. Bryan hadn't managed to tackle her on time. Their dad had laughed and beheaded her too.

And then he'd slithered up the roof, singing his usual sweet lullaby, Bryan sick with fear and blinded by the tears.

He still doesn't know where he'd found the rod he'd impaled the approaching man with.

At the trial against Boris, the judge had listened to Bryan's deposition. He told the jury about the training, about almost forgetting he was a human being. Most of the people in the room were crying. Bryan thought, fuck you, fuck all of you. Didn't you know this is what Boris has been doing, all along?

The judge told him, I know you, Bryan Kuznetov. She told him, I know the story of your family. He said, you probably know more than me.

That's how Bryan learned, at eighteen years old, that Radu was still alive.

He still isn't really sure his oldest brother doesn't hate him.

For surviving. For not saving the others. For not saving not even one of them.

And there Radu is, in the café Mr. Dickinson said the two brothers should meet, sitting at a small table like a normal person.

As if he wasn't a giant. As if he wasn't Bryan's personal, former super hero and myth.

And a soldier and a killer and a dangerous man, too, because, apparently, something run in the family, that makes all Kuznetov men turn into very violent people.

But there he is, Radu, who had been a giant even back when they had a family, even before the massacre happened. Radu had been the tallest and bulkiest twenty-one years old in miles, when Bryan was eight and scrawny and his oldest brother would often lift him and throw him around, flip him and carry him on his shoulders as if he weighted nothing.

Now Radu looks even bigger, bulkier, and surely more dangerous. His black hair is still long, past his shoulders, and his deep green eyes are cold and calculating, when they used to be warm and carefree.

But, as much as Radu does look dangerous, Bryan can see he looks also terribly nervous. And he is sitting beside Mr. Dickinson, who is the sweetest man on Earth, and who is patting his hand in comforting gestures and smiling and mumbling something.

Bryan, from his hidden spot in the alley, can read the lips of the old man.

'Of course, he will show up, Radu, my friend! Don't worry. And stop fussing. I'm sure he will at least hear what you have to say, before trying to stab you' the old man's lips are saying.

Bryan smiles, and a chuckle escapes his lips without him knowing.

Radu is really nervous about this meeting. It's not just Bryan who is afraid.

He shakes his head. Tala has told him earlier in the morning that he should stop worrying and go face his fears. Spencer has told him, in a very un-Spencer way, to go meet Radu because 'fucking hell Bryan, you're the only one who still has a fucking family, if you dare come back without trying to talk to your brother I'll beat you up'.

Ian has just smirked, and said, if you are afraid, it's ok.

Little else could have egged him to actually go.

And now here he is.

He breathes through his nose, and braces himself, and leaves his hiding place and walks into the street. Radu's eyes spot him even before he's approached the window wall of the venue, and he freezes mid-speech.

Mr. Dickinson notices, and turns, following the direction of Radu's eyes. The old man smiles at Bryan and waves, gesturing at him to come inside and join them.

The brothers look at each other. Bryan's face is empty of emotions, schooled back in one of his favorite and useful expression from his time in the Abbey.

Radu looks at him with a hard stare, and Bryan can't understand, can't read it, doesn't know what his brother is thinking, because, for so close they used to be, they have spent so much time apart that now they can no longer say they can read each other's mind, guess each other's thoughts.

'You are the bravest man I have ever known' Tala has told him this morning.

He doesn't feel brave, but he can't prove Tala wrong by turning tail and starting to run.

He has done it already in the past, running away from Radu's attempt to find him, when he was scared Radu too was after him to kill him. He knows now that that had been probably his worst decision ever. He will not do it now, too.

Right? Right.

He swallows, averts his eyes and walks in. He looks at Mr. Dickinson, and tentatively smiles at the old man. Mr. Dickinson replies with a ten thousand watts smile.

"Bryan, my boy! Here you are!"

The man is radiant. How long has he been trying to bring the two brothers together?

"Sit, sit. I'm sure you don't need an introduction...!" the man jokes.

Bryan swallows, casts a careful look in Radu's direction, and gets stuck in his brother's green eyes. His very deep, very careful, very penetrating, soul-baring green eyes.

He sits, covering with the movement the deep breath he exhales through his nose.

"Hi, Mr. D" he says to the old man.

Which is a bad move, because now he's bound to look again into his brother's eyes, and Radu is fixing him with this stare he can no longer read...

Radu smirks.

He doesn't say anything, but that's enough for Bryan to relax. He doesn't even realize that he's smirking back.

Mr. Dickinson chuckles, and grabs his hat, pushing his chair backwards.

"Well boys..." He starts obviously going for leaving, but he stops.

Radu and Bryan are looking at him with a scared expression, as if they're terrified to be left alone in each other's company.

They are also looking at him with a set of deeply green eyes, absolutely identical, that stops the old man in his track.

These two boys, he thinks, how similar they look, and how similar they are.

He smiles fondly, and stands.

"I'm sure you don't need this old man to reacquaint to one another. However, I will be in the library right across the street, in case you need me"

The man bids them a warm hello, they let him leave, and a terrible awkward silence falls. Bryan can't look at Radu in the eyes and Radu can't look at him either.

At some point, the oldest exhales through his nose and sighs, relaxing against the back of his chair. The movement makes some of his hair spill past his shoulders. He looks so much like their mother, and his father, and at the same time he is a completely different person. Bryan doesn't know why he's thinking this.

He looks at him and hopes he still manages his blank expression, but he's afraid he's showing all his uneasiness and tension, instead.

"If someone had told me I'd ever feel so weird around you, I'd never believed it" he comments, smiling.

Bryan smiles back.

He doesn't know how he feels. He doesn't know what he wants.

A part of him is still angry, and disappointed. Another is still very, very afraid. That Radu will attack him, or tell him how disappointed he is in Bryan.

He fucking hates this all.

Radu looks at him for a long time, and he realizes he's waiting for him to say something.

He doesn't know what.

He opens his mouth and then closes it.

"What?" is all he says in the end.

Radu chuckles and shakes his head, looking down. When he looks back up to Bryan, his eyes are soft and familiar, and Bryan's heart aches in his chest.

He smiles again.

"You are a completely different person, but you're still the same" Radu says.

Bryan's smiles dies a little, and he looks away. What is he supposed to say?

"I'm glad to see you" Radu says in a soft tone: "I'm glad I finally manage to"

Bryan meets his brother's gaze.

"I'm sorry I didn't take you out of that place" Radu goes on, his eyes and voice soft, but his face deeply serious.

Bryan swallows.

What is he supposed to say?

"I'm sorry I ran away" he murmurs barely above a whisper.

"I'm... Sorry I didn't protect them" he says, without even knowing why he's saying it. He doesn't really think it, anymore. Not entirely. Maybe. He's not sure.

Radu shakes his head.

"That wasn't on you" he says: "that was my fault. I should have come back earlier"

Bryan clenches his teeth.

He feels like crying. Or punching the table, a wall, his brother's face.

He wants to scream and say, yes, fucking yes, you should have helped me, found me, saved me. You should have protected me.

Why did he apologize? He shouldn't have apologized. Or maybe yes. He has been thinking it was his fault for so long. Better to voice that thought, even if he's no longer sure about it, isn't it?

He still feels exposed, too close to tears, and he wished they've chosen any other place to meet. People around them are talking, chatting and laughing, drinking and eating and some are even fighting.

He doesn't want to cry.

"This might be a bad idea, but, do you want to go and see Mom? And the girls?" Radu asks.

Bryan, for a moment, is startled into thinking they are alive. That they have somehow survived.

Radu sees it in his eyes, and that's when Bryan realizes, he means their graves. Radu has buried their entire family, when Bryan was busy running away, or in the Abbey.

He nods.

He hopes they're walking wherever they're going. He doesn't really like the idea of being in a car, in his current mood.

"Wanna walk?" Radu asks, standing up.

Bryan nods and follows him out.

 

They don't write to Mr. Dickinson. They walk past the library he's tucked in, and he notices them. He smiles to himself and hopes all goes well.

 

 

They walk in silence.

They look so similar, and yet entirely different.

Oddly enough, the similarities are mostly the result of the nightmares Bryan has undergone through, the past experiences that Radu would have done everything in his power to keep him from.

Radu has taken from his mother's side of the family, and it's clear from his jet black hair, dark skin, the shape of his face.

Bryan looks like his father, blond and slim, with a body that promises to bulk up with ease if he wished to.

They both have the green eyes of their mother, it's the one thing they have always had in common.

Radu has always been carefree but a soldier in his spirit, as if the native name their mother gave him had shaped him right from the start. He's always been considerate of his siblings, and a good leader. Bryan isn't surprised that he ended doing what he does.

Bryan, instead, has always been the follower. He's always done what Radu told him to. Thirteen years divided them, and many times Radu has been for Bryan more like a father than an older brother.

They were very different in personality, Radu open and confident but also constantly checking that his siblings were safe. Bryan more careless, dependent on his eldest brother, never at peace with the world.

Now, they walk the same, look around the same, check the perimeter even in each other's company the same.

Radu notices and his heart clenches. He wanted Bryan to grow up free and innocent, he wanted his baby brother to always be the same free spirit he was as a kid.

Bryan knows he couldn't be more different from what he was. He knows Radu must be feeling regret, probably wishing he was still like he used to be. He has never felt as self conscious as now.

And he doesn't want to.

They are close to the cemetery now. He stops in his track, hands still in the pockets of his jacket, and looks up at Radu.

"If you have to be ashamed for what I am, either stop, or tell me" he demands in an angry tone.

Radu isn't surprised. He just shakes his head.

"This isn't shame, Bryan. This is guilt"

The answer is like a slap on his face.

He's this close to point out that Radu has never called him with his Russian name, but then his brother smiles.

".. that's weird, isn't it? Me calling you Bryan instead of Little Hawk"

Wow. Did Bryan feel like crying before? Because he'd be surprised if he doesn't start now.

"...yeah" he agrees.

"I don't know if you'd let me, though" Radu says.

Bryan nods.

Then he forces a small smile.

"What else would you call me? I mean, you only used that name only when you were mad at me"

The implicit 'are you mad at me' lingers in the air. The brothers look at each other.

"I would never be more sorry for failing you, little brother. I'm sorry for not helping you. For not finding you. For not bailing you out the Abbey, and for taking this long before seeing you" Radu says, as if he'd waited this long.

He has a pained expression that tells Bryan how he must have decided to clean his conscience right this instant.

"...I wanted you to" Bryan whispers.

"Some brother I've been, uh" Radu whispers back.

Bryan nods. Then he shakes his head.

"I guess you can't complain if you have a monster for a younger brother, now, then"

Radu frowns.

"I would never" he says.

Bryan has always been attracted to Tala for his ability to look at people with a stare that pinned their very souls. He can see, he can remember now why.

Radu does exactly the same thing.

He swallows.

Radu is looking at him and he doesn't know what to say.

"I am proud of you, in a way I probably shouldn't"

Radu's eyes don't leave Bryan's not even for a moment.

"You made it, alone. You survived. You proved you were stronger than anybody I could think. You..."

Radu shakes his head, and doesn't bother hiding the tears in his eyes.

"I can't bring them back" he says, and he doesn't need to specify whom.

"But I'm glad you are still here. I'm just sorry that I couldn't spare you the shit you've been through"

Bryan swallows down guilt, regret, shame and bad memories. He bats his lashes trying not to cry. He just wants to dive into Radu's chest like when he was six and hide there forever.

But he's also angry.

"There wasn't only shit" he says.

Radu smiles.

"I know. It's incredible, the family you have built with your friends. You've always been so good at bringing people together"

For a moment Bryan feels like he can't breath. He's overwhelmed, and he doesn't want to listen to the only thought that echoes in his head, of diving right into Radu's chest and be hugged with the best hug of his life.

He doesn't want to.

Radu is right: he's made it out, alone. He's survived. He's not a kid anymore.

...but he hasn't made it alone. He had his friends with him.

He can't make this alone. He didn't make anything alone.

Alone he has only fallen through darkness and darkness and darkness, regressing to an animal.

He opens his mouth. He closes it.

He starts walking again.

Radu walks by his side.

"I can't forgive you yet" Bryan says.

They are almost at the open gate.

Radu nods.

"I understand" he says.

Bryan stops.

He looks up at Radu, at hopes he's not crying, but, who cares.

"Please don't be mad at me" he whispers.

Radu is already crying. He doesn't give a damn, either.

"I don't. I would never".

"And don't be ashamed of me" Bryan adds in another whisper.

"Little Hawk, I couldn't be more amazed and proud at how fucking strong you showed the world you are"

Bryan is crying. So is Radu. He doesn't care. Bryan shouldn't either.

He stops thinking, and just leans forward, forehead hitting his brother's chest.

Radu hugs him, pulls him in an embrace so tight Bryan almost stops breathing.

But it's ok.

Because Radu's here.

He's not alone.

He's alive.

He's human again.

And what is left of his family has just found him.


	7. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian is brilliant. He is bound to know. And he figures out what has happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope Ian doesn't sound a closed minded bitch. He isn't. He just isn't into something Spencer is.
> 
> Chapter is short, sorry!

Chapter 7: The Morning After 

 

The moment he enters the kitchen, Ian knows something is up.

At a first glance, nobody would notice. But Ian, with his highly developed brain, Ian knows. It’s almost magic and almost creepy, really, but he does.

Spencer is flipping pancakes and omelets on the stove, piling them on dishes for the breakfast. The table is already laid out and fruits are already pealed and chopped in bowls. He almost whistles from time to time, and Ian would sigh because, really: Spencer is half-whistling Bach. With all the fucking music is the world.

But, something, something that not even Ian could point his finger to, something screams at him that Spencer has just finished fucking his friends. Which one, or if both of them, or if maybe one was watching (very likely, because no way Spencer has fucked one of them behind the other's back), that he still has to find out. 

Ian grins and sits at the table.

“You’re in a good mood today” Spencer comments, half turning in his direction and smiling at him.

He turns back quickly to the stove. Ian grins madly.

“I could tell you the same”

Spencer snorts and shrugs.

That’s it, Ian thinks: he’s abso-fucking-lutely sure.

“I guess we can definitely say sex would do that to a person” he casually comments, relaxing on the bench.

Spencer slowly turns to him, eyebrows raised, and hesitates.

“This must be the first time I’ve ever heard you talking about fucking your girlfriend”

Ian smiles like a cat who’s just cornered the mouse: “I was talking about you”

Spencer tenses for a moment, looking at Ian with a vaguely guarded expression.

Ian pours himself some coffee in a cup and starts adding a very unhealthy dose of sugar.

“So, was it Tala, Bryan or both?”

Spencer looks about to comment on the unhealthiness of all that sugar, but he doesn't. He holds his stare for a moment. He has his very expressionless mask that he has perfectioned in the Abbey, and that he still uses to assess the situation. When he realizes there is nothing judgmental in Ian’s eyes, he relaxes and smirks.

“Guess”

“Both” Ian says almost immediately, grinning madly.

Spencer grins back.

Ian chuckles, then bursts out laughing.

“You have no shame! You have no fucking shame!”

“Hey, it’s not like I have seduced an innocent virgin, you know”

Ian shakes his head: “Oh, I bet”

Spencer finishes up with the omelets and starts washing pans and cutlery he has used to cook.

“How did that one go?” Ian asks.

“I caught them. You should have seen them” he shakes his head and presses his lips together, closing his eyes for a moment, savoring the memory: “they would have tempted a saint”

Ian grins: “I didn’t know you were gay”

Spencers shakes his broad shoulders: “I’m not. I’m not even really bi, to be honest. I just like those two. I mean” he turns and smiles wickedly: “Bryan has grown into something really pretty, and Tala...”

“Yeah, you don’t have to say anything to that” Ian admits.

Spencer chuckles.

Ian smiles and snorts.

“Was it good?” he asks.

“The best I’ve ever had, and I was happy with my past experiences” Spencer replies, very honestly.

Ian grins and nods. He can easily imagine that. He doesn’t like men at all, but he can see the appeal in having a thing with Tala, and even with Bryan and Tala, at the same time. He is a bit surprised at finding out about Spencer's sexual orientation, to be honest, though. For a small moment he feels embarrassed, for not having realized it by himself. Then he tells himself not to be an idiot.

“Was it a one time thing?” he asks.

He hopes this won’t ruin their bond, the intimacy between them as friends, as teammates, as almost brothers.

Spencer turns and smiles, but it’s a careful smile. He sits in front of him, straddling a chair.

“Tala said… he mentioned it might not be just a one time thing”

Ian frowns.

“Then what’s with that face? Shouldn’t you feel a blessed man?”

Spencer tilts his head and sighs, looking up at the ceiling. When he brings back his eyes to Ian, Ian is caught with an epiphany.

“Spencer...” he adds, and has to stop, because he is not quite sure how to proceed with this. Then he decides that attack is the best move.

“Are you in love with one of them?”

Spencer wiggles his eyebrows and smirks.

‘Oh fuck’ Ian thinks.

“...are you in love with both of them???” he asks, slightly torn between panic and incredulity.

Spencer looks deep into Ian’s eyes, and doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to.

‘Holy shit’ Ian thinks.

“It’s not that kind of love. It’s not… it’s not romantic. It’s not what you feel for Valeryia, and not even close to what they have for each other”

‘Oh’ thinks Ian.

He understand what Spencer means.

“It’s … they are my world. Not much different from what you are, too. And the kids. it’s just that, you and the kids… well” he shrugs, smiling all charming: “it’s just that for you and the kids I don’t feel anything sexual, no offense”

“None taken. Actually, I might be a tad relieved to hear that”

“Don’t be homophobic” Spencer chides, standing up and moving back to the fridge, puttering around.

“I’m absolutely not, and you know” Ian says, stirring his now slightly cold coffee: “It’s just.. I’m straight. I wouldn’t know what to do, if you told me you felt that way for me, too”

Spencer nods.

“I understand”

He comes back to the table with milk, and offers it to Ian, but then notices the coffee in the cup has gone cold. He makes a face and go back to the stove.

“How can you drink cold coffee. Here, I’ll warm you some water again”

Ian snorts: “thanks, mom”

“I’m more of a dad, really” Spencer remarks smoothly.

“Yeah” Ian says, grinning: “But I’ll leave it to Tala and Bryan, calling you daddy”

Spencer turns towards him and smiles devilishly.

“Don’t start it, Ian. I would make you blush like you have never blushed in your entire life”

“Oh my god” Ian whispers, diving for his coffee and grimacing when the stale taste of the cold liquid hits his tongue.

Spencer laughs. At him, and Ian knows. But he doesn’t say anything else, and changes the topic.


	8. News of the Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The news of the blading reunion spreads out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter.   
> POV shifts to different set.

Chapter 8: News of the Reunion

 

“Kai!”

The slated haired boy raises his eyes to the sky and sighs softly.

Since after BEGA, his old teammates have turned incredibly more affectionate, even more than they already were, and that’s saying something. Particularly so Takao, who has been glued to Kai’s side since then.

He slows his pace down enough to let the Japanese boy catch up with him. He waits patiently, watching him jog up to his spot on the street, and stares at him in silence.

Takao smiles at him, staring back for a moment, before starting to speak. Kai appreciates: once, he would have just started rambling at an obnoxiously loud tone of voice.

“Mr. Dickinson called. He said the reunion will take place in Russia, first”

Kai nods.

“Did you already know?” Takao asks, lifting an eyebrow.

“No” Kai answers: “But I could imagine it would”

“Why?” Takao asks, frowning.

Kai bends his head slightly.

“Don’t you remember he said the Demolition Boys will take part, too?”

Takao nods: “So?”

“Don’t you think they might not want to leave their kids alone?”

Takao frowns some more, then realization hits him, and he lights up and chuckles, his cheeks going a bit red: “I forgot about the Abbey kids” he confesses: “it makes sense, once you remember the small detail”

“The small detail being having to take care of sixteen underage kids” Kai comments, smiling imperceptibly, but enough for Takao to see.

“Well, I’m glad they can join us. I won’t mind meeting some of these kids. Do you know them?”

Kai nods.

“Some of them, yes. Some I haven’t talked to much. Anyway, I’m quite sure you will like meeting most of them”

“Most? Why most and not all?”

Kai smirks: “Because some can push in the corner even you, mr. hotshot, I’m-too-famous-for-the-world”

Takao frowns and hunches forward, fists on his hips, but Kai tunes down his protests and starts walking again. They are already late enough, he doesn’t want Takao’s family to think they are late because of him.

Or Hillary. God let Hillary not think it’s Kai’s fault they are late, Kai prays.

“Are you even listening to me?” Takao asks, frustration clear in his nagging tone.

“No” Kai answers with absolute honesty.

Takao snorts but doesn’t bother repeating, which is everything Kai needs to be sure it wasn’t important. He forces his own mouth not to smile and gently elbows the other boy.

“You might want to hurry up, or you’ll be the one facing Hillary’s wrath if we’re late”

Takao smirks: “Oh, I know how to walk out of that! I’ll just say that it was your fault!”

“I don’t think it’s going to work, considering that I’m going to do the very same” Kai smirks back, not bothering to look at his friend anymore.

“Hey! What do you mean!” Takao protests.

 

 

“Mom! Moooom!”

“Max! I’m here, stop screaming!”

“Oh my god, mom, look at here, look at here!”

The blond woman who is the mother of Max Tate closes his eyes for a moment and reminds herself that she is indeed happy with the easily excited temperament of his own child. She wouldn’t want him any different. Not like Kai, who barely smiles, even now that he is in such good relationship with the other Blade Breakers.

Who is she kidding. Of course she would love if Max had taken even a little bit from his very quiet former captain.

She looks down at the cell phone Max is pushing into her hands. An email is open, from Mr. Dickinson. It’s about the reunion the old man has been planning since months.

“Oh. So, this is finally happening, I see. And in Russia! Smart move, I’m sure the Demolition Boys will appreciate it”

Max quietens immediately, looking at her with eyes bigger than saucers, and a deceived look on his face. Then he just as suddenly brightens up.

“You knew! How are you always this good at making surprises!” he laughs happily.

Judy Tate smiles back and hands the phone back to her son.

“I hope I didn’t make a mistake, confirming the All Stars are going as well” she comments.

Max beams: “I’m sure the guys will love to!”

 

 

“Rei! Rei Rei Rei Rei Rei!”

“Oh, for the love of, Kiki, shut up!”

“But, Mao! Look here! We have received an email from Mr. Dickinson! It’s about blading!”

“Oh, Kiki, why are you always making such a mess for… wait, give me that. Oh. Oh! This is fantastic! Of course we must go! Kiki, go call Rei”

“That’s what I was trying to do!”

“Well, do it then!”

Kiki disappears, bolting away and screaming for Rei.

Mariah Wong, known in her village with her Chinese name Mao, reads the email from Mr. Dickinson another three times.

Since the day they have had internet installed in the village, the White Tiger have received tons of mails from fans and creepers and sponsors, but this is the first time they have received an official invitation for a reunion, by none other than Mr. Dickinson himself. After BEGA they haven’t heard much from the old man, mainly just him inquiring about their health.

She is sure this is the first email like this they have received. Weird, she would have half expected Mr. Dickinson to contact them during the organizational process, to check if he could accommodate the event to their needs. Unless the old man has other priorities, like someone else struggling more than what they would, to participate.

The reunion is planned in less than a month, in Russia. The With Tiger will have no problem finding tickets to fly. The fact that it’s in Russia reminds Mariah that the Demolition Boys have now a bunch of kids to take care for.

She can’t, for the life of her, picture Tala or Ian or Spencer or Bryan taking care of someone.

A shadow appears on the floor, and she looks up, finding Rei on the door threshold.

She holds her breath and smiles to her best friend, who happens to also be her current captain and, from very recently, her boyfriend, too. She knows she is looking at him with starry eyes, but she doesn’t care. Rei has the same expression she is sure she is sporting.

She motions him for the computer, and he kneels beside her chair, kissing her arm while bending down. He reads silently and then smiles.

“Guess we’re going to Russia, then!” he comments.

Mariah smiles back: “good thing we can use a credit card for the booking, now!”

 

 

The atmosphere is quiet. The silence is far from oppressive, as he enjoys this tranquility.

Then he perceives something in the air, a fluctuation, a change. He opens his eyes and realizes he can small a newcomer. Someone is about to knock on the front door of the Masefield mansion.

He squints with unfocused eyes, and tries to guess who it is by focusing of their aura. Then he smiles.

A knock echoes, and then a ring of the doorbell. He can hear from afar the steps of the butler reaching for the door, opening it, talking to the guest. He can hear him ushering someone in, and Hiro’s voice filling the air, creeping upstairs, up to Brooklyn’s ears.

He smiles.

He gets up and leaves his room before the butler can start walking up the stairs to get to him. He reaches the balcony that faces the front door, and greets Hiro. The young man smiles with his usual polite, warm smile.

The butler motions Hiro to the glass door that leads to the garden. Brooklyn meets him a few moments later, finding him already seated on one of the willow chairs close to the roses.

“Do you now why I’m here?” Hiro asks.

Brooklyn smiles, a sly smile that very few people have seen on his usually very serious face.

“I wish it was for what I hope, but I know it isn’t”

Hiro’s cheeks redden slightly, and he looks down.

“Brooklyn…”

“Yes” he interrupts him: “I know. You have told me. Already many times. You can’t. I know” then he goes on, with a softer, friendlier tone: “I apologize for bringing it up again. What was it, that you wanted to tell me?”

Hiro tells him Mr. Dickinson is organizing a reunion, a balding reunion. The first meeting will be in Russia.

Brooklyn immediately thinks of Zeus, who he hasn’t touched since the last tournament. He thinks of what he has almost done, and how lucky he has been, being saved by Takao from destroying a world he found out he quite liked, after all.

He has never trusted himself to touch his Beyblade ever again. And Mr. Dickinson is asking him to join a reunion that is supposed to be merry, when many of the people who will take part to it have been wronged also through him.

He doesn’t know what to answer.

Then he thinks of Kai, and Takao, and of a flash of red hair and bright eyes.

“Ah. The prince boy will be there, will he not?” he asks, smirking.

Hiro, who has yet to find out why he calls Tala that way, nods.

“Very well, then, I will see him gladly. And Kai and Takao, too. How is your brother? It’s been almost a month since I have last spoken to him”

“Takao is fine, and he’s joining. He told me to tell you that he would personally love to see you again”

“Of course” Brooklyn replies softly.

Takao knows Brooklyn is in love with Hiro, and he knows Hiro is in love with Brooklyn, too, just as Hiro and Brooklyn themselves know. And just as Brooklyn, Takao doesn’t like Hiro’s stubbornness in refusing to admit his feelings for the boy he loves.

Takao could have told him personally, but had wanted to give Hiro an excuse to come here. That’s what being a friend must mean.

“Of course” he repeats.


	9. California Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Demolition Boys and the rest of the gang have joined the other teams and are chilling and having fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Through the eyes of Babygirl.  
> Mikail and Tala enjoying pride month in Cali.  
> Very very mild crossdressing.

Chapter 9: California Dream 

Babygirl doesn’t believe in dumb luck. She doesn’t believe in a blindfolded divine bitch who assigns good fortune and hell to people. She believes in the old saying, you reap what you sow. She has lived her entire life following this motto. Good karma will pay you back.

But she wouldn’t be able to explain how she has earned this, she thinks, smirking. She nurses at the straw of her alcohol-free cocktail (because the guys would throw a fit if they knew she’s been given alcohol before eighteen) and adjusts her hay hat to cover better her face. She wears huge sunglasses, a killer bikini, nail polish on her toes and Tala’s new Tiffany bracelet on her wrist. She looks even hotter than she usually does, even if it’s herself saying so (though she considers valid witness also the staring and glances people have been throwing at her for the past two days). 

She loves being here: what a beautiful idea, that the Demolition Boys joined the blading reunion! What a joyful piece of news, that the first encounter was held in California! And how incredibly lucky was it, that they have decided to bring all of them along! 

Babygirl sits by the side of the pool. The five stars hotel where the Bladers and the Blitzkrieg Family are staying is very close to the beach, but there are three pools anyway. Waiters and waitresses all wear white, crisp uniforms, and most of the guests have semi-formal attires even for the seaside. 

There are three basketball courts, two for tennis and a soccer pitch. There are three gyms and two rooms for dancing rehearsal or classes. There is a small cinema and even a theater, and the beach is equipped with all you could dream of needing for wind surfing, kite surfing, paddle boarding and surfing. 

The bladers who have taken up the invitation from Mr. Dickinson are all glad they did, she is sure. So are her brothers, especially the oldest ones. 

She doesn’t know many faces around: there is a Japanese idol, who she has heard of, and she thinks Ian has done a collaboration with her. The guys from the American teams all look like they are famous in the sports they practice, but Babygirl has never heard of them (which she has loved to point out to those of them who were trying to impress her). 

The Chinese guys look funny, she likes in particular the only girl and Rei, but they aren’t famous outside the blading world. Same goes for the Japanese. She might have a small crush on Kai, because she digs strong and mysterious, but nothing special. Plus, he isn’t exactly a new face, since she has seen him around a couple of times.

She loves it here. How could she not? This is a long holiday, in a luxury place, full with somewhat famous and somewhat hot people. She plays it cool because she doesn’t want to look like she’s impressed by everything around her, but she loves loves loves this. 

Of course, those who know her enough to see how happy she is at the moment are so few you wouldn’t even need a single hand to count them: Tala, because obviously, and Bryan, because just as well. Then Mik, because she and Mikail are best buddies, and Valeriya, because she is playing exactly the same game, pretending not to be almost overwhelmingly happy and impressed. 

“Watch out!” a voice shouts, as one of the twin splashes water in the pool, almost hitting her. 

She tips her head condescendingly to the one twin who has shouted to the other. Andrej smiles at her, apologizing for his brother. Ilja turns and smiles, throwing a very charming grin at her and apologizing as well. She smiles back and goes on sipping her drink. 

‘That was odd’ she thinks, hiding how struck she is by the similarity of their reaction to the charming smiles that are the recent tactic Bryan has started using. 

“Oh, boy, if they start doing the same as Bryan, we are in for a real mess!”

Babygirl chuckles.

Mikail falls in a sunchair close to her, pushing his sunglasses up on his forehead. He squints with his clear eyes, because of the crazy light of the sun, and grins at her. He doesn’t have to add anything to the expression. She grins back, silently replying.

Yes, we are fucking lucky. Yes, this is heaven. Yes, this is a dream.

Mik turns and signals to a waiter. A hot, fit brunet walking some of the tables notices and mouths at him if he wants ‘the usual’. Mikail nods: in literally less than three minutes the hot stud drops a tall glass with Mikail’s order on the table close to him.

Babygirl looks up through his sunglasses, wolfishly grinning as Mikail smiles flirty, sucking hard from the straw. The hot waiter smiles back, looking like the poster boy for self-confidence, and both of them look at him strutting away.

“Uh, boy” Mik mutters, with the straw still through his teeth.

Babygirl laughs.

“I thought you had eyes only for Tala!” she teases him.

“Hey, not fair! Tala is taken, and I still have the right to have a life” Mikail protests.

“Of course you do, and I’m sure Tala would even encourage you. That guy looks hot! I’m sure Tala would all be on board with you doing some experience”

“Oh, he would. It’s not him the problem” Mikail chuckles almost bitterly.

Babygirl grimaces and smiles at the same time: they have the same problem, Mikail and her. Tala would be very supportive of their experimenting with their bodies and learning the pleasures of flesh. He would even give them tips and encouragements. However, Bryan would have a very different opinion. It wouldn’t be the first time that their flirts end in nothing because of their overprotective older brother.

“I might understand why he goes all mother hen on you, but me?!” Mikail protests, whispering because he doesn’t dare the risk of Bryan hearing him. Or anyone else, really.

“He treats you like a girl, Mik. Like one of is younger sisters. He wants to protect your virtue”

“Well, I’m not, and he shouldn’t anyway. What if we went and told Tala? I bet he would give him a very hard time for being so patriarchally controlling and shit”

Babygirl chuckles: “He would, but I wouldn’t put Tala’s wrath on Bryan just because he scares some creep away from me. I mean, if a guy doesn’t have the balls to stand up to Bryan for me, they aren’t really worth my time” she reasons, sipping at her drink and looking pointedly in the glass.

MIkail huffs in frustration: “Em, you are absolutely right. But do try to understand me: I’m old enough to make some experience, don’t you think? I’m not looking for the story of my life. I jut want to have fun!”

The radio of the hotel is suddenly hackered and ‘girls just wanna have fun’ starts playing at a very loud volume. Babygirl and Mikail startle, and they look around for Ian, who is sitting not too far from them and looks suspiciously proud with himself. Judging from the cheeky grin he is sporting, he must be responsible for the sudden change in music (and volume) of the radio.

While the staff of the hotel hurriedly works on bringing the volume down and going back to the chill music from before, Mikail and Babygirl lift in perfect synchrony an eyebrow in Ian’s direction.

He stands up from his sunchair where he was discussing about tech with the weird-looking geek of the Japanese team and walks over to them.

“Hey you two, how is it going?”

“Like you don’t know” Mikail grins at him, folding his long legs to his chest to make space on the sunchair for his legal guardian. Ian sits and smiles broadly, not bothering to hide the fact that yes, he has heard them.

“It would be easy, you know. For you to distract Bryan enough that he doesn’t play oppressive older brother on you any more” Ian suggests, half talking and half whispering.

Mikail lifts an eyebrow, looking as skeptical as skepticism itself can be.

“And you want to make me think you wouldn’t take his place and do the same thing?”

Ian shrugs, an honest expression on his face.

His skin is getting darker and darker, Babygirl notices, and it looks good on him: it makes him look more like a human being and less like a traumatized person with a past of abuses and nightmares. Judging from the way Valeriya looks at him, Babygirl can’t be the only one thinking so.

“It’s your life. You’re entitled to make some experience. I don’t care, as long as you don’t get hurt, use protection, and don’t fuck fascists”

Mikail and Babygirl laughs.

“Why would I fuck a fascist?” Mikail asks.

Ian shrugs: “You are flirting with one, so…”

Mikail’s eyes widen to their limits, and he looks disappointed and hurt: “You must be kidding me. The hot waiter?? How do you even know?”

“Haven’t you seen the tattoo on his tricep?” Ian asks.

“What tattoo? And how could I? He’s wearing a shirt with long sleeves” Mikail protests.

“And why would a fascist flirt with a man? I thought they were all homophobic assholes?” Babygirl asks.

“That is what I knew as well, and yet I don’t see why he would tattoo a nazi cross on his body, otherwise”

Mikail’s face scrunches up like he has seen something incredibly disgusting.

“How did you see it?” Babygirl asks again.

Not that she doesn’t believe him: Ian would never make up such a lie just to keep Mikail from some innocent flirting. Or more. But it isn’t really fair, that Mikail’s hot waiter he’s been flirting with for days turns up to be a potential homophobe.

Is that guy playing Mikail??

“Check when he flexes his arms. That shirt is so thin you can see underneath”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that…” Mikail mutters, and his eyes roams around, searching the waiter to check as soon as possible.

Luck is on his side, although whether it’s good or bad it’s debatable, because, there the guy is, with his shirt stretched over his impressive arms, and there it is, the shadow of a big, nasty nazi cross tattooed on his triceps.

“So much for experiencing” Mik mutters, and he downs the rest of his cocktail.

“Hey, maybe you can reform him” Babygirl tries to lighten the mood.

“Na, those you don’t reform, Em, you drown them” he mutters gloomily.

He stands up and goes away, storming towards the pool.

Babygirls sighs and throws a glance at Ian.

He shakes his head: “I feel bad for bursting his bubble” he says.

“Better the harsh truth!” she whispers, and finishes her drink.

“Well, it’s not like we’re in shortage of guys around he can console himself with!” she states, smiling and embracing the place with her eyes.

“I guess you’re right, Em!” Ian laughs.

 

 

Mik gets over his disappointment for the waiter pretty soon. As Babygirl has said, there are a lot of other charming guys he can flirt with. He seems to stick with other patrons of the hotels, bladers or employees that works shirtless, so he can better check if they have nasty surprises hidden on their bodies.

Babygirl finds it funny but doesn’t comment. Tala only smiles, the first and only time she points it out to him.

“Better like this” he murmurs.  

California is good on the redhead, just as it is on Ian: Tala looked beautiful in Russian weather, with his red mane contrasting with alabaster skin. He looked distant and divine. Now that his skin is growing darker, though, he looks even better: his pale skin is turning honey-colored, and his fiery red hair is filling up with blond reflexes. He looks sinful and he knows it.

Then again, Tala always knew he looked good. He’s just enjoying the change in his natural shades.

He’s also taken to wear more revealing clothes, due to the warm weather and sun, no doubt, but also to the fact that he must have decided to enjoy June in the US, in one of the most tolerant states towards homosexuality. Babygirl wonders how long it will take before he dresses up like a drag queen and joins a pride. She can see him dancing on a stage in heels and a skimpy outfit.

She and Tala have gone shopping even here, once with Valeriya, once just the two of them. Tala has never been shy, and she should have seen it coming, when she caught him checking some outfits that some shops were promoting for the month of the pride parades.

They are chilling in a cozy café of the hotel, him and her. Around them, other bladers and patrons hang and sit with drinks on the tables or holding them in their hands. The place is cool, with natural fresh air breathing in instead of the omnipresent AC that Americans seem to be unable to live without.

Tala has his hair pulled in a high ponytail. He’s wearing the shortest pair of shorts Babygirl has ever seen on him, or even on a man, to be honest. It looks good on him, though, but then again, what is new?

The captain of the American team, the one who acts like he invented the definition of American jock, has been looking in Tala’s direction all day, a bit too much for the sake of his heterosexuality.

Tala, who, surprise surprise, is a big tease, has noticed. That must be the reason why he keeps crossing and uncrossing his legs.

Babygirl, who feels still quite pretty in her blue dress, grins devilishly.

Mr. Dickinson has announced a blading tournament will take place in the next few days. He has also suggested a bunch of other competitions in different sports, and the Demolition Boys are taking part to the majority of them. She isn’t exactly surprised to find out Tala will take on the dancing one.

“Oliver says he wanted to join us” she comments, taking a sip from her tall glass.

Tala makes a small noise: “If you want, we can bring him along. He’s not too bad”

“He isn’t. He is also as gay as July the 4th” she replies, smiling.

Tala chuckles: “And he has never hidden it. I think his plans to woo Carlo are starting to work”

“I thought so. And he has the most amazing shoes I have ever seen”

“Are you talking about the Loubutin? Of course you are talking about the Loubutin. You know, I was thinking about buying myself one of those as well…”

“And when would you wear them, in Russia?” She asks chuckling in disbelief.

Tala makes a noncommittal noise: “I’ll think about it. One can always find an occasion to wear shoes, once they’ve been already bough."

Babygirl chuckles: “I’m absolutely on board with this plan of yours, but-”

“You want one pair, too, I know” Tala interrupts her, grinning: “you will. But don’t think you’ll get the boots”

She makes a sad face but can’t hold it for long. Loubutin pumps don’t exactly sound bad, either.


End file.
